Rupert Pupkin is obsessed with becoming a comedy great. However, when he confronts his idol, talk show host Jerry Langford, with a plea to perform on the Jerry's show, he is only given the run-around. He does not give up, however, but persists in stalking Jerry until he gets what he wants. Eventually he must team up with his psychotic Langford-obsessed friend Masha to kidnap the talk show host in hopes of finally getting to perform his stand-up routine.
Rupert Pupkin practices his late-night routine in a cardboard set in his mother’s basement, then kidnaps Jerry Lewis to take the stage by force. Scorsese filmed the parasocial fan twenty years before anyone had the vocabulary for it. The ending — Pupkin succeeds — is the most prescient gag in the film.
