The King of Comedy (film) 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 themes including celebrity worship and American media culture. 20th Century Fox released the film on February 18, 1983, in the United States, though the film was released two months earlier in Iceland. Production began in New York on June 1, 1981, to avoid clashing with a forthcoming writers' strike, and opened the Cannes Film Festival in 1983. Rupert Pupkin (Robert
Robert De Niro the 15th Moscow International Film Festival. He appeared in "This Boy's Life" (1993). Around this time, he was offered the role of Mitch Leary in "In the Line of Fire" (1993). However, due to scheduling conflicts with his directorial debut "A Bronx Tale" (1993), he gave up the role to John Malkovich, who later received an Academy Award nomination for it. In "A Bronx Tale", which De Niro agreed to direct after seeing the screenwriter's one-man off-Broadway play, he played a bus driver who struggles to keep his son away from a local mobster. At the 20th Moscow International Film