| “ | Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime! | „ |
| ~ Rupert Pupkin's most famous quote. |
Rupert King is the titular main protagonist of the 1983 American dark-comedy, crime, drama and thriller film The King of Comedy, directed by Martin Scorsese.
He was portrayed by Robert De Niro, who also played Johnny Civello in Mean Streets, Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, David "Noodles" Aaronson in Once Upon a Time in America, Louis Cyphre in Angel Heart, Al Capone in The Untouchables, Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas, Max Cady in Cape Fear, Frankenstein's Monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Neil McCauley in Heat, Dwight Hansen in This Boy's Life, Ace Rothstein in Casino, Louis Gara in Jackie Brown, Gil Renard in The Fan, Fearless Leader in The Adventures of Rocky and Buillwinkle, Don Lino in Shark Tale, David Callaway in Hide and Seek, Senator John McLaughlin in Machete, Frank Sheeran in The Irishman and William Hale in Killers of the Flower Moon.
Biography[]
The King of Comedy[]
Jerry Langford is a very famous comedian and the host of the Jerry Lanford show, one night after finishing the show, he has trouble making it to his car as there's many fans surrounding him and an obsessed woman named Masha inside the car, Rupert Pupkin, retrieves the fans while Jerry's bodyguards drag Masha out of the car, once Jerry is able to get in, Rupert follows him before the car leaves the place, Rupert introduces himself as a fan and aspiring comedian, Jerry is visibly uncomfortable and annoyed by Rupert but he doesn't seem to notice, Rupert asks for a chance to appear on his show, although Jerry tries to find an excuse not to, Rupert's insistence results too much for him and tells him he'll call him.
Rupert is shown to be very obsessed with Jerry as he recreated the set of the Jerry Langford show on the basement of the house he lives in with his unseen mother, he is seen various times imaginating scenarios with him and Jerry as best friends. He also asks Rita, a local bar tender to go out on a date with him on which Rita is seen also uncomfortable and annoyed by Rupert's narcisism, once again Rupert seems not to realize this.
Harassing Jerry Langford[]
The following days, Rupert notices Jerry hasn't called him so he visits the show's offices and asks to talk with Jerry, the receptionist redirects him to Cathy Long, the producer's assistant, Rupert expresses his desire to talk to Jerry, but Mrs. Long convinces him of making a tape showing his comedic talents. Leaving the building, he is intercepted by Masha, Rupert shows contempt as he considers Masha to be a stalker to Mr. Langford. Masha harasses Rupert telling him he doesn't care about him, Rupert tells him they are actually friends, Masha incredulous tells him to deliver him her letters if they're such good friends.
Rupert makes his tape and visits the offices again asking for Jerry to personally listen to it, once again Mrs. Long appears and promises to hear his tape, however Rupert insists on Jerry to listen to it personally as he also asks to see him, Long tells him it may take a while before they have an answer, Rupert says he'll wait no matter for how long, but Long tells him to come by the next day. That night, he fantasizes about being called before Jerry as he complements him on his tape. He comes back the next day and talks again to Mrs. Long, who gives an objective opinion of the tape, saying some of it is good but some parts are slow, he exhorts Rupert to practice his stand-up comedy on local clubs until he feels he's good enough to appear on the show, Rupert doubts Mrs. Long as he believes that's Long's personal opinion and not Jerry's, he then decides to wait until Jerry comes talk to him, after some time, they call security and they escort him outside the building, once again he's intercepted by Masha, asking him if he delivered the letters to his "friend", Rupert responds that he couldn't as he was told Jerry wasn't there, Masha then tells him she's sure he's in as she's been following him, she convinces Rupert and he returns inside the building decided to find Jerry, he walks past the reception and into the offices, he doesn't finds Jerry and is chased by security and dragged outside the building. That night, Rupert fantasizes on being co-host of the show and getting married to Rita live on television.
Jerry's "Betrayal"[]
Rupert invites Rita once again on a date telling her he's Jerry Langford's friend and he takes her to his summer house, Jerry's help confused and nervous call Jerry, while Rupert and Rita make themselves at home. Jerry arrives and confronts Rupert, Jerry, furious, tells Rupert they were never friends and orders him to get out, ashamed Rita apologizes to Jerry and tries to convince Rupert he doesn't wants him there, Rupert thinking Jerry's a big-headed celebrity, feels betrayed by him and leaves angry at him.
Rupert partners up with Masha to kidnap Jerry and after successfully doing so with a fake gun, they take him to Masha's house where he's forced to call the show and tell them about Rupert's demands (who makes Jerry refer to him as The King), he wants to appear on the show. The producers debate and decide to give in to the demand only if Rupert doesn't do an offensive show or gives a hate message.
The Jerry Langford Show[]
Rupert sneaks into the set, he finds Mrs. Long and tells her he' "The King", Rupert's taken to the FBI agents, after interrogating him, he refuses to tell them Jerry's whereabouts unless he appears on the show the FBI agree and Rupert's taken on stage, meanwhile Jerry is full-body taped to a chair and Masha prepares a romantic dinner, but after a while she gives up that idea and decides to rape Jerry, Jerry fakes to give in and asks her to remove the tape, she does so and Jerry takes the gun, after realizing is fake, he hits Masha in the face and escapes. In the studio, Rupert gives in to the FBI agents but he asks to first be taken to Rita's bar to watch the show, they agree and Rupert watches his performance with Rita, it is here revealed that Rupert uses his sad and traumatizing past to make the comedy, he jokes about his drunk parents, his abusive father and the school bullying, it is also revealed that his mother was actually dead, laughters can be heard from the public and near the end, he confesses to have kidnapped Jerry, the crowd think is a joke and laughs,once the show's done, Rupert gives in to the FBI.
Epilogue[]
It is revealed that Rupert's story became famous and a book was written about it and a movie about the story is about to be filmed, Rupert is given a couple of years in prision and when he comes out he is actually famous and is given his own comedy show, the film ends with Jerry completely happy standing before his audience in a bright red suit about to start his show.
External links[]
- Rupert Pupkin on the Martin Scorsese Wiki.