Laughter on the 23rd Floor (2001) (TV)

Director:

Richard Benjamin

Writers (WGA):

Neil Simon (play)
Neil Simon (teleplay)

Release Date:

26 May 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

TV's top comic has everything. Except his sanity.

Plot Keywords:

Drugs | Restaurant | Mccarthy Hearings | Reference To John Wayne | 1950s

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Nathan Lane	...	Max Prince
Mark Linn-Baker	...	Val Skotsky
Saul Rubinek	...	Ira Stone
Dan Castellaneta	...	Milt Fields
Richard Portnow	...	Harry Prince
Kristi Angus	...	Girl
Ardon Bess	...	Cecil
Colin Fox	...	Cal Weebs
Sherry Miller	...	Faye
Frank Proctor	...	Walter Winchell
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mackenzie Astin	...	Lucus Brickman
Marcia Bennett	...	Cal's Secretary
Robert Bidaman	...	Brad
Ian D. Clark	...	Doctor
Philip Craig	...	Dennis
Roger Dunn	...	Bartender
Karyn Dwyer	...	Toga Girl
Craig Eldridge	...	Observer
Samantha Espie	...	Helen
Alex Fallis	...	Waiter
Neil Foster	...	Stage Manager
Victor Garber	...	Kenny Franks
Johnny Gardhouse	...	Dresser
Peri Gilpin	...	Carol Wyman
Jake Goldsbie	...	Pauly
David Gow	...	Dave
Zach Grenier	...	Brian Doyle
Michael Hanrahan	...	Policeman #1
Brian Heighton	...	Friend of Walter's
Tamara Hickey	...	Waitress
Jack Jessop	...	Cemetery Keeper
Keith Knight	...	Brutus
Irene Lopez Kuchilan	...	Carla
Jeffrey Lampert	...	Policeman #2
Roy Lewis	...	Alfred
Kelsey Matheson	...	Girl in Elevator
Steven Morel	...	Reporter / Cassius
Heather Paine	...	Elly
Gerry Quigley	...	Aaron
Shannon Rowe	...	Gail
Shaun Smyth	...	Warren
Victor A. Young	...	Harley

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

102 min | Germany:98 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M | Germany:6 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Tivoli Theatre, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Paramount Television

Trivia:

The film is based on 'Neil Simon''s work as a writer for Sid Caesar.

Goofs:

Factual errors: There are a few brief inserts of "The Lawrence Welk Show", and Welk's voice is heard saying "thank you, Myron" after a voice-over introduction. The announcer's voice was not that of Myron Floren, a band member who often provided transitions between musical numbers, but that of the regular announcer who opened each show.

Quotes:

[Re: Max's health]
Val: God forgive me for saying this word: Nervous breakdown!
Milt: That's two words. God will never forgive you!

Movie Connections:

References Julius Caesar (1953)

Take A Pass On This Mess

This is really a 3rd rate, made-for-television mess. First of all, there is NO 'Laughter on the 23rd Floor' or any other floor - and for a Neil Simon play that is shameful. Nathan Lane is, Nathan Lane, a short loud mouthed Jackie Gleason sounding caricature of Sid Caesar during Sid's Show of Shows era. It's supposed to be manic and inspired, but it's just loud and pointless. All the reviews here seem to imply that a great cast of fine character actors stood behind Lane and help boost the show along – I don't buy that at all. None of the assorted 'fine character' actors helped anything, all their words and actions are forced to the point of being painful, their lines were very poorly delivered and none of them were believable for even one second – for which I blame director Richard Benjamin. An almost insulting attempt at adding substance to this train wreck is the tossing in of Edward R. Morrow's legendary Joe McCarthy Show underneath and in between the overacting of Lane's lemming running toward the sea character. Then it's all tossed aside for a nice tidy and gutless ending – My mother could write better than this. The one, single redeeming element in this claptrap is the very deftly played character of Lane's brother (Harry Price) played by character actor Richard Portnow. None of the other reviews even mention this guy but his is the ONLY performance worth a plug nickel in the whole show - everybody is running around frantically overacting their asses off to keep up with Lane and this guy steals the whole film out from underneath them with a quiet nod and a sheepish grin. If for some reason you feel compelled to waste your time watching this – Don't take your eyes of off Portnow, he is the ONLY reason to sit through it!