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
Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro The film won a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, and was nominated for four other BAFTAs, including Best Direction for Scorsese and Best Actor for De Niro. The film was generally praised by critics but did not perform well in the United States. Scorsese suggested the film "...maybe wasn't so well received because it gave off an aura of something that people didn't want to look at or know." De Niro and Scorsese collaborated again in 1990 on "Goodfellas", which also starred Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci. The film follows Henry Hill (Liotta) as he and his friends work their