As much a portrait of the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival as the eponymous comedian behind it, “It Started as a Joke” features a who’s who of Brooklyn’s alternative stand-up scene, just like the event itself. In addition to Eugene Mirman, this documentary includes appearances–and jokes–from Kumail Nanjiani, Jim Gaffigan, Mike Birbiglia, Michael Ian Black, Michael Che, Kristen Schaal, Wyatt Cenac, Bridget Everett, John Hodgman, Reggie Watts, H. Jon Benjamin, Michael Showalter, Janeane Garofalo, Jon Glaser, and Bobcat Goldthwait. It’s the type of lineup that would make you buy a ticket to a festival instantly and the type of film that’s so star-packed that our house style necessitates that we should probably just bold the whole review and be done with it because that would be so much easier.
“We were drinking,” Birbiglia said in describing the festival’s origins a decade ago. “And Eugene said, ‘I have this idea. What if we made a festival that’s just making fun of other festivals?’ And Julie and I go, ‘Yeah, that sounds great.’ And then they did it, and they cut me out.” That Julie is Julie Smith Clem, Mirman’s producing partner on the festival and beyond, who makes her directorial debut here along with Ken Druckerman, a TV documentary series producer. Unsurprisingly with this relationship to the subject, Smith Clem and Druckerman get intimate access to Mirman and his family in addition to the festival that ran from 2008 through 2017.
“It Started as a Joke” weaves between Mirman’s home life with wife Katie Westfall-Tharp, the 2017 final show, and contemporary interviews with comedians. It also includes archival footage of previous years of the festival at Brooklyn’s Bell House venue. For those who couldn’t make it, the documentary shows what set the festival apart from other standup comedy events, from its intimate setting to the family feel. You see some of these stars in their early, pre-mainstream fame years, and in their current state, where there’s clear affection for Mirman himself as well as the event. This is not a hard-hitting exposé or “Fyre“-type debacle; instead, it’s filled with love–for both the medium of standup and for the community Mirman has built. But it’s Mirman’s love for his wife and young son that also shine through, both on stage where he reveals more about his family as well as at home with them.
Perhaps more document, tribute and elaborate home video gift for Mirman and friends to look back on, “It Started A Joke” is still warm and entertaining. Fans of stand-up comedy will love the insight into Mirman’s generous philosophy on the art form, as well as bits from familiar faces and appearances from big names like Ira Glass. In its brief runtime, it’s often as entertaining as a solid set from any one of the featured comedians, but it also has a serious streak in the insight it offers into Mirman’s challenges off the stage. In its structure, “It Started as a Joke” never really decides where its real focus is, resulting in a film that doesn’t go as deep as it might into either the festival and its surrounding scene or Mirman himself. But audiences will likely fail to notice; there’s so much humor and heart here that it’s easy to like the film and its subject. [B]
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