‘Dying Up Here’ goes inside comedy revolution
Apparently, comedy is serious business. Created by Jim Carrey, the new period drama “I’m Dying Up Here” (10 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA) explores the competitive hothouse of a Los Angeles comedy club in the early 1970s. Oscar winner Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”) stars as Goldie, the owner of the eponymously named club and den mother to young comics striving to climb comedy’s Mount Everest: winning a stint on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show” and a few seconds on his sacred couch.
Goldie sees her club as a kind of church where her acolytes confront their truths and confess their secrets. Not to give too much away, but the pilot episode includes a funeral for a comic who most probably committed suicide. On “Dying,” the business of funny is nothing if not deadly and earnest.
Ari Graynor stars as Cassie, a daughter of small-town Texas trying to find her voice in a world so macho that most comics come out of strip clubs. Bill (Andrew Santino) can’t hide his jealousy of every other comic and considers his colleagues’ successes as an affront. Spoiler alert: He’s easy to root against.
Clark Duke and Michael Angarano play two goofball new arrivals from Boston. They provide most of the levity in the early going. Their appearance on “Let’s Make a Deal” in the second episode offers an antidote to most of this series’ forced heaviness.
The good news is “Dying” is not the comedy version of “Vinyl.” The bad news is that it often comes close. Worse, the great Melissa Leo dishes a lot of the show’s most leaden lines.
To be fair, there’s a strong ensemble cast of often sympathetic characters. But the price of admission is watching Al Madrigal (“The Daily Show”) under a ridiculous wig.
Dylan Baker stars here as Johnny Carson, and one wishes there were more of him, if only to remind us that the end result of this life-and-death struggle was not to quote Goethe (as one comic does here!), but to entertain an audience seeking a few laughs at the end of a hard day. On “Dying,” we’re continually reminded of “the craft,” “the work” and, worse, “the truth.” It gets old before it gets silly.
It also doesn’t help when a period piece gets things wrong. In an early, establishing scene, a comic mentions the very recent Roe v. Wade decision, to set things in early 1973. He’s followed by Cassie, who makes a joke about her Pet Rock. The problem is, that gag gift and quintessentially silly ’70s fad did not arrive until 1975.
That may seem like a minor quibble, but in those two years, Nixon would resign in disgrace, Anthony Anderson hosts “To Tell the Truth,” tonight at 8 on ABC.
the Vietnam War would end in humiliation and a show later named “Saturday Night Live” would offer young comics a holy grail that did not run through Carson’s couch. It’s the little details that separate a good joke from a dud and a compelling show from a pretentious one.
MEGYN KELLY RESURFACES
NBC launches “Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly” (7 p.m. Sunday). The former prime-time Fox News host will helm an hourlong magazine-style format not to be confused with “60 Minutes.”
‘DUMB’ DOCUMENTARY
Today, Hulu begins streaming the documentary “Dumb: The Story of Big Brother Magazine.” Big Brother magazine, first published in 1992, gathered a gaggle of irreverent pranksters and skaters, inspiring the culture best represented by MTV’s “Jackass” series. “Dumb” includes a wealth of archival footage of lowbrow stunts and interviews with Spike Jonze, Johnny Knoxville, Steve Rocco, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Tony Hawk and Chad Muska.
This is the latest in a series of documentaries on Hulu about very specific areas of pop-culture obsession. Over the past few weeks, Hulu has begun streaming “Batman and Bill,” about a comic-book creator denied proper credit, and “Becoming Bond,” a profile of actor George Lazenby, who walked away from the 007 franchise after one film.
BEATLES RETROSPECTIVES
With many focused on the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ 1967 “Sgt. Pepper’s” album, Ovation airs two retrospectives. “The Beatles: Parting Ways” (noon today) documents the band’s breakup and the solo careers of John, Paul, George and Ringo. “Becoming … The Beatles” (noon Sunday) recalls the band’s Liverpool roots and musical origins.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
› Regional coverage of Major League Baseball (7 p.m., Fox).
› The Nashville Predators host the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final (8 p.m., NBCSN).
› A desperate mother tries to save her runaway teen from international sex traffickers in the 2017 shocker “Daughter for Sale” (8 p.m., Lifetime).
› “20/20: In an Instant” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14) enters its third season with the story of a sudden blizzard that trapped a couple and their newborn for eight days in the Nevada wilderness.
› Eli’s past influences his choices on “The Son” (9 p.m., AMC, TV-14).
› The lie of the land on “Doctor Who” (9 p.m., BBC America, TV-PG).
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
› Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS, repeat): a Russian dissident twice poisoned by Putin; yogurt mogul Hamdi Ulukaya; vets who treat gorillas in the bush.
› The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors meet in Game 2 of the NBA Finals (8 p.m., ABC).
› The Clarks don’t have many good options on the two-hour and 10-minute season premiere of “Fear the Walking Dead” (9 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
› “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” (9 p.m., CNN, TV-PG) visits Antarctica.
› Abigail tempts Cassie’s customers with exotic confections on “Good Witch” (9 p.m., Hallmark, TV-PG).
› “The Leftovers” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA) wraps up its third and final season.
› Awkward silences abound on “Twin Peaks: The Return” (9 p.m., Showtime, TV-MA).
› Vulcan offers shelters from the New Deities on “American Gods” (9 p.m., Starz, TV-MA).
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.