Stream It Or Skip It: ‘For Madmen Only’ On Hulu, A Documentary About Improv Comedy Guru Del Close

The name Del Close might mean nothing to you, but the late actor and acting teaching remains revered by many of the most popular comedic performers from the past 45 years. Perhaps even more revered than Lorne Michaels. But Close never achieved mainstream face or recognition in his lifetime, dying in 1999. For Madmen Only is the newest documentary to tackle his legacy.

FOR MADMEN ONLY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Part documentary and part biopic, the story of Del Close gets told by director Heather Ross, centered on the late 1980s in which Close attempted to reframe his life story through an 18-issue DC Comics horror-comic book anthology, Wasteland.
James Urbaniak plays Close in these scenes, collaborating with his co-writer (played by Josh Fadem of Loki, Better Call Saul) and editor (played by actual Close student/disciple Matt Walsh of Veep). Another scene finds Lennon Parham and Lauren Lapkus as DC Comics liaisons in the office dealing with Close on the phone. In separate hallucinations, Urbaniak’s Close interacts with Patton Oswalt as a manifestation of his comic-book villain, and later, Paul Scheer as a talking rat.
Meanwhile, the tall tales Close put into his comic books get spun backward to compare and contrast with his real life story, from humble beginnings in Kansas, to a thankfully brief career ass a “human torch” sideshow act, saved by a fortuitous invitation to join the new improvisational acting troupe, The Compass Players. There, Close not only worked with other future comedy legends such as Mike Nichols and Elaine May, but also established improv as its own art form, codifying the first “kitchen rules” for improvising onstage professionally. While Nichols and May broke off and became stars as a duo in New York City, Close ended up first in San Francisco, where with a group called “The Committee” (whose members included future TV sitcom star Howard Hesseman of WKRP in Cincinnati and Head of the Class) where he came up with his own improv three-act structure called The Harold. He also played with Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters. Later, Close became a director at The Second City in both Chicago and Toronto through the glory years of the 1970s and ’80s, teaching future stars such as John Belushi and Bill Murray in Chicago, and the likes of Eugene Levy and the rest of the SCTV cast, down to Mike Myers in Toronto.
Close’s clashes with The Second City over the viability of improv as an art form that audiences would want to pay to see onstage, as well as Close’s own personality defects and substance abuse, got him fired from The Second City. But he found a new partner in Charna Halpern in the 1980s willing to go all-in on improv at Chicago’s improvOlympic, where Adam McKay, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, and so many other stars still working today got their starts. He even served as a credited adviser on SNL before sending many of his pupils from Chicago to 30 Rock.
Around the time of his DC Comics series, Close was enjoying his greatest success in show business, including roles in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Untouchables and The Blob.

Close died just before his 65th birthday, although Bill Murray organized an early birthday party for Close in the hospital on his deathbed, from where Close could deliver one final performance for his disciples.
As the late Robin Williams offered in an old clip, asked about Close: “Oh yeah, the cult of Del. It should be the church of Del.” Perhaps it was a bit of both.
Utopia Media acquired For Madmen Only and released it for rental or purchase in North America via Apple TV and Altavod.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: For tortured comedy geniuses who tortured their friends and loved ones, there’s a Venn diagram overlap between For Madmen Only and the recent Showtime documentary, Belushi. The dramatizations and re-enactments by comedians who revere their comedic subjects and influences also carries over from the 2018 National Lampoon biopic, A Futile and Stupid Gesture.
Performance Worth Watching: Bob Odenkirk, and not just because he’s in the news this week with his own health scare. (Get well soon, Bob!)
Odenkirk tells his Second City origin story, visiting Chicago in 1981 as an aspiring comedian but under the guise of filing a news report for his college radio station, and scoring an interview with Close, who’d just gotten fired and had just quit hard drugs. Odenkirk kept the tapes, which start with Close asking young Bob for dope and explaining away a broken window in his apartment as the result of a “jealous husband.” Odenkirk laughs nervously and repeatedly.
“I don’t know that stuff. I’m a kid from Naperville. But if he says he quit coke and he did it by going to a witch ceremony, then I believe him,” Odenkirk says now, in retrospect. “The crazy thing is that I walked out of Del’s place so excited about doing comedy and being in show business.”
Memorable Dialogue: From George Wendt (“Norm!”), a veteran of The Second City: “John Belushi is a prime example of Del’s work. There was serious danger on the stage, but it was hilarious.”
The other memorable moment comes late in the film from an old clip, origin unknown, of a younger Tina Fey doing a tongue-in-cheek confessional, where she sits and delivers this straight to camera, on the verge of tears: “It is a cult. Yeah, improvOlympic is a cult. And I got sucked into it. One night, outta nowhere, these like eight guys came at me, and they were just like doughy-looking white guys in khaki pants, and they told me I had to go with them, and that I couldn’t deny anything they said, and that I had to heighten their initiation, and you know, the next thing I know, I’m writing out checks to Yes, And Productions!”
She’s joking. But then again, look at iO or The UCB or some of these improv groups a little more closely, and is it still funny in retrospect?
Sex and Skin: None. Thankfully?
Our Take: As much as I enjoyed Urbaniak’s take on Close, or any of the other comedians re-enacting real or imagined scenes from his life, I’m not sure that it added that much narratively, or to my understanding of Close.
As our voiceover narrator, Michaela Watkins did manage to take a moment to note how Close’s cult of personality probably blinded him to the idea of recruiting anyone who wasn’t a white guy into his improv cult. But the overall mission of the movie doesn’t seem to want to question reality so much as to perpetuate and celebrate Close’s myth-making status.
For example, in the early section devoted to Close’s relationships with Nichols and May, it’s suggested the Close and May were the true couple, both comedically and romantically, only to have Nichols get in the way. If only we had any input or commentary from May (who’s still alive) to hear another side of that story! Or even anything documented from Nichols about all of that.
At least SCTV star Dave Thomas offers a partial rebuttal to Close’s techniques, standing up to him in the 1970s when Close wanted Thomas to re-enact a tragic scene from Close’s life. As Thomas recalled: “I looked at him and I said, ‘I’m not doing that.’ That’s not a good joke. I think Del was always interested in making the audience gasp, and that would be the equivalent to a laugh. Which I never believed. They wanted to laugh! You have a responsibility to that audience, and without them, you got nothing. You know? You’re a madman on a street corner, raving at passersby.”
With all of the reckonings in comedy over sexism and racism in the past four years, perhaps we should have some more hindsight regarding this particular madman? Or is that asking too much?
Our Call: STREAM IT. Several comedians and filmmakers have produced documentaries of varying lengths and depths about Close already (and some ask much more probing questions about Close and his acolytes), but if you don’t know anything about him yet, then this is a solid place to dig in. Even if will leave you asking more questions.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.

Watch For Madmen Only on Hulu