Some comics, it seems, exist for other comedians, and actor/writer Bob Einstein was one such performer.

Many know him as Marty Funkhouser from Larry David’s iconic HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, others from his long-running Super Dave Osborne stuntman parody that started sometime around the heyday of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and ran on talk shows all the way through his death in 2019. You might even remember Einstein as George Senior’s surrogate from the criminally under-appreciated Arrested Development, or, if you’re a certain age, as actor/writer Albert Brooks’ brother and a mainstay writer across comedy shows that produced future writer/performers like Steve Martin, Carl Reiner and other heavy hitters. However you know him (or are just realizing you know him), Einstein was a gifted funnyman with an enviable decades-long career, and a new HBO documentary from filmmaker Danny Gold digs into the career of the consummate comic for comics.

Whether through interviews with some of the biggest names in comedy—from the aforementioned David, Martin and Reiner, to Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt, JB Smoove, Susie Essman, Jerry Seinfeld and more—or in footage from Einstein’s stints with the Smothers Brothers, Sonny and Cher, the short-lived cable program Bizarre or elsewhere, a picture emerges of a creator who somehow became a straight man unto himself. As the legendary Super Dave, Einstein crafted an enduring bit that inspired an entire generation of physical comedy fans; though his inspiration on the hip-hop community is a welcome surprise.

Einstein’s bit, as it were, is that there wasn’t a bit—only deadpan seriousness with the slightest twinge of rage. As Reiner says in the film, all the best comics channel that bit of anger, but Einstein perfected its nuance.The Super Bob Einstein Movie unveils one of comedy’s worst-kept secrets, but lovingly teaches us why it continues to matter. Think of it like a crash course in craft for even the most seasoned comedy fans, a glimpse into the life of a guy who impacted just about anything that made us laugh over the last 50 years and a humble but important entry in the pantheon of jokes.

You’ll laugh and cry and wish you were a performer yourself, even as Einstein’s strained familial relationships are hinted at, but never fully explored. At its core, however, Gold’s film seems a great excuse to find out what makes our favorite comics laugh. In that and so many other ways, Einstein became a legend. Like jokes? See this doc.

8

+Great for new and old comedy fans; eye-opening

-Pretty surface level; should have been longer

The Super Bob Einstein Movie

Directed by Gold

HBO Max, TV-MA, 75 min.