Watch Funny People

This film centers primarily around the art of stand-up comedy. George Simmons is a successful comedian and actor. The downside to his success is his chosen loneliness. Being alone isn't so easy, though, when George is diagnosed with a rare form of acute leukemia. Ira Weiner is an amateur talent who catches the attention of Simmons one night at a comedy club. George asks Ira to write jokes for an upcoming event for him. After this successful venture, George hires Ira on permanently as an assistant. George tells Ira he is sick, and Ira helps him through treatment. When George is attempting to tell his friends about his prognosis at the behest of Ira, he is visited by his former fiancée from several years back, Laura. She is married currently married to Clarke, who is cheating on her, and she has two daughters with him. At his next appointment, George learns his treatment appears to have worked. What he really wants is Laura, he determines, and he encourages her to come see him perform in San Francisco. She does and then invites him and Ira to her home afterwards. Even though Ira tries to talk sense into a determined George bent on stealing Laura back, George and Laura wind up hooking up anyway. An unexpected return of Laura's husband sends the situation into chaos, and heated exchanges find George without Laura and being forced out by an angry Clarke. George is angry and fires Ira, who then retorts that George is insensitive and managed to learn nothing from nearly dying. George watches Ira, now with more confidence in his material, perform onstage. The next day, George shows up at Ira's work with a list of jokes he has written for him to use. He concedes that while he might in fact be better health-wise, he still has a lot of improvement yet to come.