Joe List on the Documentary He Made About a Good Friend Comic: It’s Deeper and Darker Than You Might Think

“I’m ever frustrated due to the fact that I deliberation a batch of radical comprehend comics arsenic the ones everyone knows who unrecorded successful New York and L.A., says Joe List, a stand-up comic whose sanction is not equated with Jerry Seinfeld oregon Kevin Hart, but nevertheless lives successful New York and has a ample and devoted following. “There are thousands of comedians that nary 1 has ever heard of who are making immoderate benignant of a surviving astatine this.”

In February 2023, List, who has nursed a tendency to marque films since helium was a teenager, decided to enactment his wealth wherever his rima is — much than $25,000, helium estimates — and radiance a spotlight connected Tom Dustin, a comic who mostly chartless connected a nationalist level but revered successful his hometown of Boston and Key West, Florida, wherever helium presently lives and owns the Key West Comedy club.

The effect is the genuinely autarkic documentary, Tom Dustin: Portrait of a Comedian, a very freewheeling movie that drama fans tin ticker connected Punchup Live for $6 — a woody for those who bask crisp standup and compelling stories from a hard-living raconteur who thinks thing of being filmed walking the streets of Key West successful a Winnie-the-Pooh onesie. (As List explains successful this interview, pub crawls successful onesies are a happening there.) More info connected the doc tin beryllium recovered here.

What Portrait of a Comedian lacks successful operation — this is List’s archetypal movie and often plays similar an ambitious location movie — it makes up successful authenticity. List, who besides grew up successful the Boston area, and Dustin are ride-or-die friends, and their conversations are sometimes painfully direct. In betwixt clips of the movie subject’s standup sets, Dustin, who’s seldom seen without a portion oregon a cigarette, talks astir his and his father’s bipolar depression, his conflict with intoxicant and regrets he’s harbored passim his life. And yet, helium comes disconnected arsenic a antheral who’s comfy successful his skin, not the bittersweet sack that the erstwhile condemnation mightiness suggest helium is.

The stories are besides worthy the terms of admission, specified arsenic erstwhile Dustin and List instrumentality turns recounting the clip a trio of prostitutes robbed of each cent they had brought with them connected a drunken travel to New Orleans.

List, who’s been sober since 2012, Zoomed with Billboard from a parkland successful Denver portion connected interruption from a bid of shows there, to speech astir his documentary, his relationship with Dustin and his ain experiences successful the often grueling concern of standup.

Was making a documentary ever benignant of connected your bucket list?

I person truthful galore things I privation to do. I privation to marque communicative features. I privation to marque documentaries. I privation to marque abbreviated films. I privation to bash standup. I privation to play nonrecreational baseball. I privation to spell to the dentist. I privation to beryllium successful a band. It’s 1 of galore things I ever wanted to do. I ever effort to instrumentality the way of slightest resistance. I’m like, a documentary is decidedly easier than penning a script, getting actors and rehearsing. Of each the things I wanted to do, it seemed similar the astir doable.

Was it reasonably inexpensive to make?

In presumption of movies, it’s a precise cheap, low-budget movie, but I paid 100% of it retired of my pocket, truthful it was surely much than my fiscal advisers would person liked. I deliberation it ended up being determination betwixt $25,000 and $30,000.

It was a three-person crew. My friends Patrick Holbert and Matt Salacuse were some cameramen connected the movie. They did astir of the camera work, and I changeable immoderate B-roll. And Patrick edited it. We had 2 cameras; nary dependable feline and Patrick did each the editing. Then we hired a feline to color-correct. Then, I had to alert them down, enactment them up, and colour correction took a agelong time. Then, much edits and past we had to wage for a song. We got a John Prine opus which was similar $7,000 truthful that was one-third of the budget. I deliberation euphony is ever the astir costly happening to...