The Amazing Johnathan Documentary
Truth completely unravels in a wild meta-documentary about a dying comedy trickster and the director he torments.
Cult comic magician The Amazing Johnathan was diagnosed with a severe heart condition... and one year to live. Naturally, he retires. Three years later, he isn’t dead but he certainly is bored. So, why not go back on the road?
Benjamin Berman, director of oddball TV comedies such as Man Seeking Woman, Workaholics and Maria Bamford’s Lady Dynamite, is overjoyed. Finally, a chance to immortalise his childhood hero’s comeback (and likely final) tour. But what was planned as an adoring tribute – with appearances from ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic, Penn Jillette, Eric Andre and Carrot Top – soon rockets off the rails. Johnathan’s devilish pranks reach a point where capturing any truth at all might prove impossible. The director stumbles further into frame, forced to question everything he sees, hears and films.
Berman’s hilarious and confounding feature-length debut is a truly original take on the “one last tour” doc.
“Laugh-out-loud funny in a way that’s unexpected for a documentary about a deceitful, dying meth-addict magician.” – Screen Daily