Fake Comedy is Hard: 12 Unbearably Bland Movie Stand-Ups
![Fake Comedy is Hard: 12 Unbearably Bland Movie Stand-Ups](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/3/9/778439_320x180.jpg)
Stand-up comedy is very, very hard. It takes most people years of hoisting themselves up on stage in front of a bunch of usually drunk chuckleheads to really get a handle on the craft. And then there's the whole thing about why it's always so cold in comedy clubs. So yeah, it's not like you just warp your way to funny in a heartbeat.
And no where is it more clear, actually, just how hard stand-up comedy is than in the movies. You'd think with writers and trained actors portraying comedians that it'd be a slam dunk, but it's exactly the opposite. Yes, not even Tinsel Town can pull it off, apparently.
Even our funniest actors have a hard time pulling off onscreen stand-up comedy. The jokes often fall flat, especially when the ‘audience’ goes nuts over the supposed gut-busters. Here are 12 cinematic stand-ups who come off more hacky than hilarious. So scroll on down to check out some unbearably bland movie stand ups…
![Standing in for Judd Apatow is SETH ROGEN FUNNY PEOPLE CRACKED.COM Funny People's comedians are more realistic (and funnier) than most. But you still have scenes where Rogen goes from a newcomer to hilarious in the time it takes to lell two outdated MySpace jokes.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/5/0/778450.jpg)
![He's funny, but Punchline' bombed for TOM HANKS PUNCHLINE CRACKED.COM Some of Hanks' stand-up routines bend logic and, worse, aren't funny at all. He's more believable as a comic than co-star Sally Field, but his extended, accented bit as a Korean tour guide would be an automatic cancel today.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/5/1/778451.jpg)
![Billy Crystal mentors flailing comic BEN SCHWARTZ STANDING UP FALLING DOWN CRACKED.COM To be fair, Schwartz' is playing a comic trying to find his voice, SO polished stand-up isn't the goal here. Still, the film's least effective moments are the ones that feel like 'bits' a riff on social media and 'being white' while hanging out in a bar.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/4/2/778442.jpg)
![Cinematic stand-up is even hard for JIM CARREY RUBBERFACE CRACKED.COM Carrey plays a funny would-be comic with lousy material in this Canadian made-for-TV movie. He hooks up with a local gal who is supposedly genius with jokes - but her gags fall just as flat. Painful all around and that's not counting the ice cream parlor jacket.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/5/2/778452.jpg)
![Sketch comedy almost took down AARON SORKIN STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP CRACKED.COM Tina Fey figured it out- make your SNL parody intentionally terrible and you'll never have to write funny sketches. But Sorkin gave it a go, generating comedy bits (and dialogue) that were clueless and condescending, self-aggrandizing and hopelessly smug.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/4/7/778447.jpg)
![Housewife humor doesn't work for SALLY FIELD PUNCHLINE CRACKED.COM Hello, my name is Lilah Krytsick, and on our wedding night, my husband gave me something very long and hard... a new name. Like this terrible joke, none of Fields' routines work, says Roger Ebert. Not the ones that are supposed to be bad and not the ones that are supposed to be good, either.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/4/5/778445.jpg)
![A comedy legend is brought to life by JEAN SMART HACKS GRACKED.COM Hacks is terrific in a lot of ways, but it's also a reminder that writing fake comedy fake stand-up comedy in particular - is one of the hardest things to do in the world of filmed entertainment. It's the Studio 60 problem: the show tells us the jokes are funnier than they are.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/4/4/778444.jpg)
![The first time wasn't the charm for BOB DE NIRO THE KING OF COMEDY CRACKED.co Rupert Pupkin is supposed to be delusional comic, not a talented one. So it's hard to explain the enthusiastic audience response when he gets his chance on The Jerry Langford Show - especially given his uninspired routine. I started in show biz at the very top - collecting autographs!](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/4/1/778441.jpg)
![The second time wasn't the charm for BOB DE NIRO THE COMEDIAN CRACKED.COM Unlike Rupert Pupkin in King of Comedy, De Niro's Jackie is supposed to be an awesome comedian. But he's just not that convincing. You sense that he's trying too hard, when the secret to great stand-up is its effortlessness.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/4/6/778446.jpg)
![Tighten your Borscht Belt for BILLY CRYSTAL NIGHT 1EDY MR. SATURDAY NIGHT GRACKED.co Buddy lacks a genuine sense of humor. He knows formulas, gags, 'material, and he uses them on audiences like tools to make them laugh. Because he doesn't genuinely feel the audience, he can't tell when he's bombing until it's too late. Great, let's spend two hours with him!](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/4/8/778448.jpg)
![Nora and Delia Ephron wrote jokes for JULIE KAVNER THIS IS MY LIFE CRACKED.COM Between Rhoda and The Simpsons, Kavner played wannabe stand-up Dottie Ingels. The comedy sets are the big flaw, said one critic, believing Kavner has the stuff to make Dottie seem like a sensation, but the Ephrons haven't given her enough to work with.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/4/9/778449.jpg)
![I can make a comedy about anything, thought ALBERT BROOKS LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD CRACKED.COM The movie's conceit is that Albert Brooks (playing Albert Brooks) is a huge comedy star in the United States, but his jokes don't translate to a Muslim audience. The movie's dismal box office says the yuks weren't appreciated by Joe Cineplex either.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/4/3/778443.jpg)