Tribeca Film Acquires North American Rights to “The Comedy”

We’re so very proud to announce that Tribeca Film will be distributing Rick Alverson’s The Comedy throughout North America. The Jagjaguwar-produced drama was one of this year’s most talked about films since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was in U.S. dramatic competition. Variety called it “compulsively fascinating” and Film Threat described it as “one of the most wildly inappropriate and pitch black comedies I’ve ever seen”.

What exactly does this mean? In addition to having a limited theatrical run, the drama will soon be available in over 40 million homes through video-on-demand, iTunes, Amazon Watch Instantly, Xbox, Samsung Media Hub and the like.

Alverson, who directed and wrote The Comedy, is someone Jagjaguwar has been working with for a very long time (since 1996). Jagjaguwar has released over nine albums with Alverson, and The Comedy is just one of four dramas Alverson and Jagjaguwar have collaborated on. Like Jagjaguwar, Alverson is also very excited about Tribeca Film’s involvement. “My hope is that The Comedy may be seen as both a challenging, cautionary tale and an unapologetic immersion in a culture of irony and recreational cruelty many have come to find liberating,” said Alverson. “We’re very happy to be in the competent hands of Tribeca Film and look forward to a partnership that will bring this movie to a wide audience.”

The Comedy features Tim Heidecker of the “Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job,” as an aging hipster spending his aimless recreation with like-minded friends (“Tim & Eric” co-star Eric Wareheim, LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy and comedian Gregg Turkington a.k.a.“Neil Hamburger”) in games of comic irreverence and mock sincerity. There are several cameos by musicians Jagjaguwar friends, Will Sheff (Okkervil River) and Richard Swift (The Shins).

Read more about the acquisition HERE.