For anyone experienced in the world of open mic comedy nights, Is This Thing On? – a Bradley Cooper dramedy unexpectedly inspired by the life of UK comedian John Bishop – feels almost chillingly accurate. It’s practically a rite of passage for straight men starting out in stand-up to open their five-minute sets with some variation on, “So, I just got dumped…”
With that in mind, you can imagine a few people in the audience rolling their eyes and muttering, “oh brother”, when financier Alex Novak (Will Arnett) takes to the stage for the first time. Preferring to sign up for a slot at Manhattan’s Comedy Cellar rather than pay the bar’s entry fee, he’s arrived with not a sliver of material to his name, so he defaults to the dissolution of his marriage to Tess (Laura Dern).
