Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011
'King for a Night'
In Martin Scorsese's dark 1983 film The King of Comedy, Robert De Niro plays a imbalanced aspiring comedian who kidnaps Jerry Lewis and hijacks his talk show for a night. After his scheme works, he concludes his monologue to the studio audience with the classic line, "Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime." A fictional TIME cover appearing in the last minutes of the movie agrees with sentiment, declaring De Niro's character "King for a Night."