{"id":2215820,"date":"2025-12-29T18:46:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T18:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2215820"},"modified":"2025-12-29T18:46:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T18:46:26","slug":"the-real-stand-ups-who-helped-punch-up-bradley-coopers-comedy-drama-is-this-thing-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-real-stand-ups-who-helped-punch-up-bradley-coopers-comedy-drama-is-this-thing-on\/","title":{"rendered":"The real stand-ups who helped punch up Bradley Cooper\u2019s comedy-drama \u2018Is This Thing On?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It was abundantly clear to actor-director Bradley Cooper that if \u201cIs This Thing On?,\u201d<\/a> his comedy-drama set in New York\u2019s stand-up scene, lacked authenticity, the film would fail. With the iconic Comedy Cellar at its heart, he found the key to unlocking that \u2014 by casting several of the real-life comedians who regularly take the stage there. Among them were two women at the top of their game right now with sold-out shows and substantial social media followings: Chloe Radcliffe and Jordan Jensen.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cBradley fell in love with the Comedy Cellar and the relationships that go on there,\u201d Jensen recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs This Thing On?\u201d is based on an anecdote from the life of British comedian John Bishop, whose career started when he stumbled into an open-mic night in Manchester, England, while temporarily separated from his wife. In the film, Will Arnett plays a fictionalized version of Bishop, Alex Novak, a finance guy, and the narrative shifts to New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea was, \u2018If we use people who aren\u2019t comics to play comics, there\u2019s not going to be a juxtaposition between Arnett and this super-tight group of people,\u2019\u201d Jensen says. \u201cHis character is this stuffy, bored guy, and he enters into this world of people who have day jobs just like him, but they step into this room, and it\u2019s all dirty humor and busting each other\u2019s balls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Radcliffe realized early on that Cooper, who also produced and co-wrote the film, understood the level of commitment required to portray the stand-up world realistically. She saw the first signs of him getting it when he screened 10 minutes of test footage for the comedians at his home, just a few blocks from the Greenwich Village club.<\/p>\n

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Comedian Chloe Radcliffe on stage as her character, Nina, in \u201cIs This Thing On?\u201d <\/p>\n

(Jason McDonald \/ Searchlight Pictures)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cThe second the test footage started, I immediately felt so confident that we are in the right hands,\u201d she recalls. \u201cAny lingering doubt or trepidation was totally washed away immediately, because Bradley just has such clarity of vision and taste. It was clear that he and Will had both embedded themselves deeply in the world of stand-up. Bradley wanted to capture what is real, and he was like, \u2018If that means going off script, do it. If that means going to a weird place, do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jensen adds, \u201cI don\u2019t think I said one actual line from the script. I would improvise something, and along the way, as I got the point across, it was OK. He might occasionally tell us to say a line, but it was in between 100% moments of improvisation, and he would be rolling camera.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw the movie, it was really moving. The way he showed it reintroduced me to it and made me be like, \u2018Oh yeah, this place is f\u2014 magical.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper wanted to capture what goes on offstage as well as on, and a significant part of that happened around a particular table at the Olive Tree Cafe, which sits above the underground comedy club. It\u2019s where the acts gather before, after and in between their sets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shot a scene around the comics\u2019 table on the very first day,\u201d Radcliffe says. \u201cAbout a week or 10 days later, Bradley wanted to reshoot it because he looked at the footage and realized that it looked like a movie. He wanted to make something that looked like the real environment. I admire that so much. Not only is he willing to ask us for our input, but he\u2019s also willing to go back and make new decisions based on new information.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Jensen, in another scene in the cafe, the filmmaker asked whether the comedian\u2019s coats, which PAs had removed from the shot, would be there, and when he was told they would, ordered them to be put back. The level of detail even extended to whether the comics would share fries from a single plate or have their own. It all mattered.<\/p>\n

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\"Jordan <\/picture>\n
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Comedian Jordan Jensen was used to riffing through her scenes on camera while playing her character, Jill, in \u201cIs This Thing On?\u201d <\/p>\n

(Jason McDonald \/ Searchlight Pictures)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Radcliffe describes Cooper\u2019s reverence for the Comedy Cellar and the comics as an appreciated display of \u201chumility and willing\u201d that extended to both the filmmaker and Arnett, asking for their input on techniques that would improve Novak\u2019s set.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wound up chatting about things like where the funny idea is in a punch line, so you might rearrange the sentence so that the most surprising part of it comes at the end. That\u2019s an unnatural way of delivering that sentence,\u201d she reveals. \u201cI would see Will running the set at the Cellar before the shoot, and he is so naturally funny that even if he went off script and started riffing, he instinctively hits punch lines. He has this natural sense of rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, neither the actor nor the director, who also plays Novak\u2019s best friend, Balls, rested on their laurels. To gauge real audiences\u2019 reactions to the material, they ran it multiple times in rooms for months before filming started. It\u2019s something Jensen calls \u201cthe ballsiest thing I\u2019ve ever seen a person do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be on a show months before the movie was happening,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019d be like, \u2018Here\u2019s Alex Novak,\u2019 and I was like, \u2018Who is that?\u2019 I would see that it was Will Arnett and then I\u2019d be like, \u2018F\u2014, he\u2019s bombing. Oh, this is the movie.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the bombing was intentional, and things would change as the set progressed. She continues, \u201cWhat I realized is they had written it so that the first chunk in the movie, he doesn\u2019t do so great, the second chunk he does a little better, and the last chunk he does the best, which is how comedy works. I can\u2019t imagine in a million years doing that and not breaking at some point, and being like, \u2018Hey, by the way, I\u2019m actually doing this for a movie.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While Arnett was on stage, Cooper would stand in the back of the room, taking notes, making changes and doing research. However, Jensen says watching Arnett tank, even on purpose, was \u201cbrutal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Will <\/picture>\n
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Will Arnett with director Bradley Cooper on the set of \u201cIs This Thing On?\u201d<\/p>\n

(Jason McDonald \/ Searchlight Pictures)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cThese were not open mic nights; they were real shows. It was Will Arnett\u2019s reputation, and he was bombing on purpose, but it totally worked out in the long run. He was operating like a real comic up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were also little things that Arnett did, sometimes by accident, that made his delivery next-level. One example is when he breathes into the microphone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was totally an improvised thing,\u201d Jensen enthuses. \u201cIt was this moment of awkwardness that is so authentic that it makes you immediately empathize with him. You\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, man, I know that feeling of the air leaving your mouth, hitting the mic, and now everybody has heard that you\u2019ve let out a sigh of grief.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Radcliffe, who plays Nina, and Jensen, who plays Jill, are close friends in real life and read for each other\u2019s roles. Aside from being able to take Cooper and Arnett behind the curtain of the comedy scene, their relationship added an extra level of authenticity to the film and to each other\u2019s performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been really close since pre-pandemic, and she and I have a lot of similar energies,\u201d Radcliffe muses. \u201cWe can both be trashy little gremlins. She has a level of aggression that I don\u2019t quite step into, and I think I have a level of exasperation that she doesn\u2019t quite step into. We play off each other really well. She\u2019s so subversive and transgressive, and she\u2019s got such a magnetism in where she is willing to go on stage that I think is unmatched in a lot of other comics working right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jensen, who is a big fan of Cooper\u2019s work, recalls being starstruck when he first opened the door to his home when the cast came over to read the script for the film. \u201cHe opened the door and said, \u2018Hi, I\u2019m Bradley.\u2019 I just looked at Chloe over his shoulder, beelined right to her, and snuggled up next to her on the couch, because I was so intimidated,\u201d she said. \u201cIt would have still been great if she weren\u2019t there, but having her there was the best. It\u2019s one of those things where when I\u2019m really old, I\u2019ll tell people, and they won\u2019t believe me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was abundantly clear to actor-director Bradley Cooper that if \u201cIs This Thing On?,\u201d his comedy-drama set in New York\u2019s stand-up scene, lacked authenticity, the film would fail. With the iconic Comedy Cellar at its heart, he found the key to unlocking that \u2014 by casting several of the real-life comedians who regularly take the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2215821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2215820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/The-real-stand-ups-who-helped-punch-up-Bradley-Coopers-comedy-drama.com2F672F132Ff3f4f9ca44f4b4418df242a0.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2215820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2215822,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215820\/revisions\/2215822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2215821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2215820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2215820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2215820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}