YMMV / The King of Comedy

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Rupert genuinely delusional or is he just a narcissist with Social Climber tendencies who adopts a "Fake It Until You Make It" approach to life to try to impress peers like Rita? When they fail to be impressed by his claims of making major moves in the entertainment industry, he resorts to increasingly desperate measures. Under this interpretation, the scenes of Rupert together with Jerry are his fantasies showcasing what he hopes to achieve rather than genuine delusions. On the other hand, the fact that Rupert showed up uninvited at Jerry's house expecting a warm and friendly welcome implies that Rupert does have trouble separating fantasy from reality.
• Alternative Joke Interpretation: Did Jerry really think Rupert's Pride and Joy joke was good or was he just humoring him?
• Award Snub: It received zero Academy Award nominations.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: A minor one: as Rupert and Rita are leaving Jerry Langford's home, there's a brief shot of Rita stealing a trinket off Jerry's table. It comes out of the blue (Rita doesn't seem the petty thief type) and is never mentioned again.
• Delusion Conclusion: Because Rupert is an Unreliable Narrator who fantasizes about becoming famous, it is not uncommon for certain viewers to interpret the finale as another one of his delusions. On the other hand, modern audiences are more likely to take the ending at face value since society has become media-saturated with so many dubiously talented Social Climbers finding fame on talk shows and reality TV that the finale no longer seems over-the-top but instead accurate and ahead of its time.
• Fetish Retardant: Masha stripping down to her lingerie might have been appealing were it not for her planning to rape Jerry.
• Funny Moments: Rupert kidnapping Langford and making him read the demands off cue cards. In particular, one card being upside down, one is blank, and at one point Rupert turns them over a little too fast, and Langford despite the situation he is in, doesn't fail to remark to his associate on the phone that the statement isn't grammatically correct.
  • While the film largely avoids showing the actual standup bits, probably to prevent Humor Dissonance (and to keep the audience off-guard as to whether Rupert is actually any good or not), once we do finally see Rupert's act, some of the zingers are pretty funny. Which may come as a big surprise to anyone approaching the film after seeing Joker (which famously took inspiration from King of Comedy) and expecting Rupert's act to wind up similar to Arthur's.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Rupert trespassing on Jerry's property and Masha's obsession with Jerry anticipated David Letterman's trouble with Margaret Ray.
• He Really Can Act: Jerry Lewis in a rare dramatic role, it's considered not only one of his best performances, but one of the best in all of Scorsese's films. Likewise, while nobody has ever doubted DeNiro's talent, this film is often considered proof of his great range, playing a character totally unlike his previous film (Raging Bull) or any other film he appeared in.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Robert De Niro would later himself play a Johnny Carson-esque talk show host dealing with a dangerously deranged comedian in Joker (2019), which references this film both in universe and in story.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Rupert tries to paint himself as one in his monologue, but it's anyone's guess how accurate it is. He could also be a straight example anyway as it's clear that for all his sins and his massively oversized ego, he's ultimately a desperately lonely and unhappy man whose only joy in life comes from nurturing a fantasy about fame and his idol and is desperate to become something more than what he (all the while being unable to see that the fame he's chasing isn't all it's cracked up to be).
  • Jerry, who's not an entirely likable guy and a downplayed Nice Character, Mean Actor at best, also arguably can be considered one, a total Workaholic who lives alone with only his dog for company and is constantly harassed by crazy fans whose most harmless examples still wish him cancer when he politely turns down their request, and the worst ones are Rupert and Masha who either want to usurp him or rape him.
• Moral Event Horizon: Though they try to do it as harmlessly as possible, you can say both Rupert and Masha crossed it by kidnapping Jerry. Masha has a much clearer crossing when she tries to force herself on a helpless and tied up Jerry.
• Retroactive Recognition: In the opening crowd scene, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (uncredited extra in crowd scene) can be seen next to Robert De Niro just before Jerry gets into the limousine. She would later star in Martin Scorsese's The Color of Money.
• Spiritual Adaptation: Sean T. Collins has argued that this film is the best live-action version of Joker ever. Noting that Rupert Pupkin's character, and the themes of the film anticipate many of Joker's scary-funny shtick in the last four decades. Fittingly Joker (2019) has the involvement of Scorsese and DeNiro.
• Spiritual Sequel: A Dark Comedy version Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro's earlier film Taxi Driver. Both are about socially awkward outcasts on the fringes of society who engage in stalking behavior and become celebrities as a consequence of their actions.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: This is likely why the parts where Jerry is killed by Rupert that was suggested by Jerry Lewis himself- which was later used in Joker- or Rupert being beaten up by the FBI that was in the original script were omitted, given how this film for a Black Comedy is bleak enough even without these moments. Also, the film is dark deconstruction of celebrity life and fandom with no characters to really root for. This issue is also one of the factors behind the the film's lackluster performance at its initial release.
• Values Resonance: The emergence of the internet and social media has made the film's themes on celebrity and fandom culture more resonating now that today's fandoms have easier ways to contact their idols and get their 15 minutes of fame.
• Vindicated by History: Was a flop on release, but is now regarded as one of Scorsese's best films and a classic of The '80s. When Jerry Lewis passed away in 2017, the news outlets kept bringing up this film as one of his greatest contributions to cinema (in addition his work as a comic and a film director in his own light). The mega-successful Joker taking cues from this film also helped a lot in bringing attention to it.

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