The protagonist is tormented by no longer knowing if he’s funny or not, by the idea of becoming a laugh-machine. It’s weird to be a professional comic – as grotesque as being a professional intellectual. Humor obviously requires work, but it boils down to making a profession from a state of mind and a sense of humor, two things which will never be acquired skills. The stand-up comics who stroll onto the stage always seem to be saying, “Hey, am I gonna make you guys laugh!” I’d be terrified of that. I’ve never really bought the calculated gags, the accents, the series of funny stories. I prefer things that escape the mechanical- – everything bizarre, fragile, in short human.

Edouard Baer, director (excerpt from press kit)