Mr. Saturday Night

Mr. Saturday Night (1992) is an American comedy-drama you can watch online on iFILM. Billy Crystal directed, co-wrote, and stars as Buddy Young Jr. — a television comedian who burned brightly in the early days of American TV and is now, decades later, performing for near-empty nursing home lounges. The film moves back and forth across roughly fifty years of one man's career and its wreckage.

Buddy could always make a room laugh. He just couldn't stop himself from nuking every good thing that came his way — a network deal, a friendship, his own family's patience. His brother and manager Stan, played by David Paymer, has taken the punishment for years. When a young agent (Helen Hunt) tries to revive Buddy's bookings, she's not quite prepared for the full experience of working with him.

Paymer earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and Crystal's performance underneath the aging makeup is far less comfortable than it looks. The film is a less sentimental take on showbiz decline than the premise suggests. Stream Mr. Saturday Night (1992) online on iFILM.