Comedian Chloe Radcliffe talks to The Contending about riffing with Will Arnett in Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On?
Will Arnett and Bradley Cooper aren’t the only real-life friends at the center of Is This Thing On?
Comedian Chloe Radcliffe loved working with fellow comedienne and buddy Jordan Jensen in Cooper’s new film about the world of comedy. Radcliffe appears as one of Arnett’s pals, Nina, in the film, while Jensen plays Jill.
“This was my first true [movie], like, ‘You’re in Hollywood, kid,'” says Radcliffe. “To be able to text Jordan, and we would sort of pop back and forth between each other’s trailers — it was amazing. It was such a blessing.”
Is This Thing On? follows Will Arnett’s Alex, a father of two who starts doing stand-up comedy to work through his divorce with ex Tess (Laura Dern). Director Bradley Cooper wanted to make this film as authentic as possible, encouraging Radcliffe to improvise with Arnett.
Riffing with Will Arnett in Is This Thing On?
“There’s a moment in the movie where Will asks if I do magic at kids’ parties, and there are five other takes where Will and I talk a lot longer. Bradley kept going shorter, faster. We need to get to the point, we gotta get through this. So there are a bunch of other options sitting in some edit bay somewhere, where Will and I just riff a little bit. It was very cool to have that freedom.”
The Scariest Part of Comedy isn’t Bombing on Stage
Another aspect of comedy that Cooper wanted to feel real was bombing on stage, which Alex does multiple times. However, Radcliffe doesn’t think bombing is the scariest part of stand-up.
“Bombing doesn’t feel good, but people always say bombing must be the scariest part of standup. And it is from my perspective not the scariest part [because] you can fix the joke. Bombing just means that joke doesn’t work. You’re not good at connecting with that kind of audience. The scariest part of standup is committing to it as a career, saying, ‘I am going to be able to do this for the rest of my life, and somebody is going to pay me money to stand on stage and tell jokes.'”
I had a great conversation with Radcliffe about the comedy scene and how much she poured of herself into the film. Watch it below!
Is This Thing On? is now playing.
