Where this was said
The Day the Clown Cried: A Secret Reading and Ike's First Cool Moment
At 27:08 · chapter starts 26:40
Will Arnett suddenly remembers a wild night from around 2001 or 2002: a small-room staged reading of Jerry Lewis's notorious unreleased film The Day the Clown Cried, in which Lewis plays a Jewish clown who entertains children as they are led to the gas chambers. The cast included Ike Barinholtz, David Cross, John Glaser, and Rob Huebel. The audience was packed with people from that whole era of comedy. Lewis apparently suppressed the film himself, though rumor has it Harry Shearer has a private copy, and some clips have surfaced on YouTube. Ike reflects that it was the first night in his comedy life that he truly felt cool — surrounded by the right people, doing something genuinely strange and risky.
Around 2001, Ike Barinholtz, Will Arnett, David Cross, John Glaser, and Rob Huebel staged a reading of Jerry Lewis's notorious unreleased film The Day the Clown Cried — about a clown who entertains Jewish children as they are led to the gas chambers. It was, Ike says, the first time he ever felt genuinely cool doing comedy.
Ike Barinholtz went to Boston University to become a politician, discovered mushrooms and total freedom, watched 2001: A Space Odyssey seven times in a week, and got expelled. His dad found out on the way to the airport for their Vegas reward trip. Three hours on a Southwest flight of 'How could you do this to us?' followed.
