With
The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin
tried rather unsuccessfully to re-appropriate his toothbrush mustache. In the
process, he established an unofficial rule of comedy that has been pretty
scrupulously observed until recent years. You can mock Hitler (see John Cleese
in half the episodes of Monty Python’s
Flying Circus), but you cannot joke about what he did. Many popular comedians
and also Sarah Silverman discuss and debate the last taboo in their business
throughout Ferne Pearlstein’s The Last
Laugh, which
screened during this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
There is
no consensus of opinion among the survivors featured in Last Laugh. Some claim they never could have endured without the
subversive power of humor, whereas others say they never found anything funny
about the Holocaust—end of story. Despite Chaplin in Dictator and Bugs Bunny in Herr
Meets Hare (which Warner Brothers withdrew from general circulation after
the war ended), Hitler jokes were still a little iffy until Mel Brooks
scandalized polite society with The
Producers.
Frankly,
you have to marvel at Brooks’ fearlessness when he discusses his long “relationship”
with Hitler. Obviously, French Holocaust survivor and original Hogan’s Heroes cast-member Robert Clary
has a very personal perspective on the issue as well. There is also a healthy disagreement
regarding Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful,
with the Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman taking a “pro” position and
just about everybody else lining up against.
Yes, Mel
Brooks is still funny and Silverman still isn’t. As a result, there are some
mid-sized laughs sprinkled throughout Pearlstein’s doc, but her cafeteria style
approach makes it feel more like the pay cable special it should have been. However,
the double-secret bootleg footage of Jerry Lewis’s notoriously off-key Holocaust
comedy, The Day the Clown Cried
(pointedly contrasted with Benigni’s mawkish shenanigans) is a coup that should
attract curious gawkers.