“Man, I wish I had a punchline,” says Alex Novak on stage at a comedy club in the new film Is This Thing On? It shows the father of two, played by Will Arnett, stumbling into a bar in search of a late-night drink and unexpectedly doing a turn at the open-mic session to get in for free. “I think I’m getting divorced,” he says. “What tipped me off is that I’m living in an apartment on my own, and my wife and kids don’t live there.”
Grappling for a punchline turns out to be existential. Novak returns, finding the limelight invigorating and triggering creativity. The film is based loosely on the life of Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop, who was working in a pharmaceutical company and separating from his wife when he chanced upon a comedy club, and ended up performing after a Geordie doing chicken impressions.
Watching it, I felt surprisingly moved. Not by the jokes, which were sadly wanting, but by the depiction of mid-life turmoil, and the search for joy and meaning.