The King of Comedy (film) of Comedy" even more dangerous than "Taxi Driver" because of its lack of blood and the fact that viewers could easily identify with De Niro. In a documentary featured in the first DVD release of the film, Scorsese himself acknowledged the connection between the two characters: ""Taxi Driver". Travis. Rupert. The isolated person. Is Rupert more violent than Travis? Maybe." The King of Comedy (film) The King of Comedy is a 1982 American satirical black comedy film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, and Sandra Bernhard. Written by Paul D. Zimmerman, the film focuses on
A Bronx Tale (play) The play had a sold-out run and Palminteri received a 1989–1990 Special Award from the Outer Critics Circle. Academy Award winning actor Robert De Niro attended a performance of "A Bronx Tale" and offered to buy the film rights to the show. Palminteri agreed to sell the film rights on the conditions that he would be able to write the screenplay and that he be cast as the role of Sonny. The film version of "A Bronx Tale" premiered in 1993. The film version marked the directorial debut of De Niro and helped catapult Palminteri's film acting career. In 2007,