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What an interesting subject. I find I have the same sentimental attachment to favorite comedians as I do to pop stars. Comedians, like pop stars, are getting a rap that what makes them good disappears as they get old. The language here is the same- the performers lose their edge, maybe their lack of self-consciousness. Often true, but not always. I'm thinking of Joan Rivers, W.C. Fields, Jimmy Durante, George Burns, Groucho Marx (I know I'm hopping eras here)- not all the most pleasant personalities, but all fascinating, funny and, yes, angry into their waning years.
Can't think of anyone in their fifties or sixties who is funny who isn't primarily a stand-up comedian, or who hasn't made the rare and successful crossover into drama. Maybe it's something about the way we see youth as such a paramount value today. Some of the above comedians were around in days of yore, where elders lorded it over the young and teenagers weren't the target demographic. I wonder if Groucho Marx, given today's attitudes, would have just hunched his shoulders and gone off into that gentle night if he were around today, rather than host You Bet Your Life?
Perhaps the problem is expecting people to be funny in the context of a feature film. For that to work requires a great script. Maybe the problem is that today's aging comedians who star in Hollywood movies are not given good material to work with. As for the scripts for which they are responsible, as in Albert Brooks, I have no answers for that.
