Let's Go Out to the Movies: "Long Live the State"
A funny thing happened on the way to Tribeca (the film festival)
There I was, scouring the Tribeca Film Festival’s byzantine website for the landing page of Long Live The State, a documentary about the eponymous 90s sketch comedy group whose world premiere I had seen promoted in an Instagram story. Lured by that age-old, kid-tested, mother-approved LIMITED TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE! canard, I took the bait.
Take note, marketers! Your hard work is not for naught! I heed your calls-to-action!
One might be surprised to learn that the storied Tribeca Film Festival is no longer officially called the Tribeca Film Festival. Organizers announced a name change ahead of the 20th anniversary edition in 2021 to reflect their expanded footprint into adjacent media like TV, podcasts, and games, dropping “Film” in favor of the Ozempic-chic “Tribeca Festival.” Meanwhile, the website remains TribecaFilm.com, and the site seems to refer to itself in its icon as Tribeca and its copy as The Festival.
Make up your mind! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE ANYMORE???
And did you really go and blow your chance for a truly radical rebrand as
The Three Becca Jamboree???
One might also be surprised to learn that (the Tribeca [(Film) Festival] was founded in 2002, following the attacks on the World Trade Center, to spur the economic revitalization of Lower Manhattan — specifically, the significant asset holdings of founder and real estate investor Craig Hatkoff.
Hatkoff’s then-wife Jane Rosenthal (div. 2014) connected him to her producing partner (and fellow Tribeca property owner) Robert De Niro, and thus: a festival was born!
FROM WHICH ONE COULD MAKE THE CLEAR AND COGENT ARGUMENT:
No September 11th, no Game of Thrones.
THINK ABOUT IT: There would be no Game of Thrones had 9/11 never happened because there would be no Tribeca Film Festival had 9/11 never happened. No Tribeca Film Festival, no The Station Agent premiere. No premiere of The Station Agent, no Peter Dinklage breakout. No Dinklage breakout, no Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister. And without Dinklage as Tyrion… well… could there really be a Game of Thrones?1
Who else would Benioff and Weiss have cast — Mickey from Seinfeld?
And as horrific as the events of 9/11 were, ask yourself, honestly, which would you rather have: Windows on the World or the Battle of the Blackwater?
Having successfully navigated my way to the ticket purchase link, my next decision point flashed into focus: How many should I get?
I had floated the idea of going to see the movie with Jewlie and her younger brother Sid, who was coming over that afternoon for a walk n’ talk with me in the park. The three of us were in agreement, so I put three tickets in my cart: $35 each, plus a $5 convenience fee per ticket. How convenient!
My cursor poised over the ‘checkout' button, I paused.
What if I got two tickets: one for Jewlie, one for Sid — and left my entry to chance? Could David Wain be my way in? Of the eleven members of The State, Waino is the one I’m closest to considering a friend: he’s an alumnus of my Running Late Show , mutuals with my dear Sklar Brothers, and — in a bizarre twist — a fan of mine from my trivia-hosting tenure. We text! I even called him once! Perhaps he could spare a plus-one so I could spare forty bones?
I’m sorry, is my JUDAISM showing????
Even if I arrived at the theatre sans ticket, could I rely upon my former celebrity or quasi-connections to get snuck through a side door? I had also interviewed State vets Kevin Allison, Michael Ian Black, and Michael Showalter on Running Late! I had corralled Thomas Lennon as a virtual guest on my live-streamed, early-COVID “quaran-talk show” Isolate Night! I had hosted Kerri Kenney-Silver for a photo shoot in my Quiz Daddy’s vintage shop in Santa Monica!2 Surely, SOMEBODY would have the hook up!
But God forbid I overestimated my pull, and we show up to a sold-out screening with two tickets for the three of us… my bride-to-be might return the ring right then and there. It was simply a risk too great to take.
So I bought three.
Ended up using one.
Wait, WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTT??????????
On the night of the premiere, Jewlie’s menstrual cramps kicked into overdrive (you down with PMDD? Yeah you know me!), and Sid — fried from a week-long international work trip — understandably bailed, heading home to Queens from the UWS rather than detouring via Varick Street.
Suddenly, I was left with a couple of extras and a couples conundrum: do I stay home with an ailing fiancée and watch something together on the teevee, or attend a one-of-a-kind, one-time-only celebration of my comedy heroes in the context of an iconic, NYC cultural event? Would it be selfish of me to leave her alone with her pain? Or would it be setting a healthy boundary to stick with my plans?
YOU KNOW I HAD TO DO IT TO HER!!!
After trying in vain at the eleventh hour to find takers for the tickets, I hustled downtown to Spring Studios and miracled the surplus passes to a couple of randos at the back of the rush line.3 Taking my seat just as the final self-promotional festival trailer rolled, I closed my eyes, drew a deep breath, and transported myself back to that decisive checkout moment on the Tribeca website four days prior — now drenched in the delicious irony of hindsight. Toying with the gamble of saving forty bucks, I ended up overpaying by eighty. This was going to be the most expensive movie I had ever seen.
But good golly, Mr. Magina, it was worth every ass penny.4 Director Matthew Perniciaro delivered the platonic ideal of a documentary, weaving together classic clips of the show that aired four seasons on MTV (and one ill-fated special on CBS), emotionally raw interviews with the entire cast,5 and archival footage shot by members of The State themselves — a group that organically assembled among mostly theatre and film students at NYU in the late 80s, just as camcorders were going mainstream — to craft the definitive telling of the birth, death, and recent resurrection of one of the most influential comedy collectives of the past fifty years.
How good was it?
I WANT TO DIP MY BALLLLLLS IN IT!!!!!!
By the end of the 1hr 50m runtime, I had laughed, almost cried, and nearly died (choking on a yellow Now and Later). I walked out of the theatre with a feeling that could only be described as being swaddled in $240 worth of pudding — for half the price!
It was heartwarmingly satisfying to know that despite the internecine ego clashes of the past, each and every one of those beloved lunatics — including (of course) the Jew, the Italian, and the Redhead Gay — is living happily ever after, not only within themselves but between themselves, doing exactly what they want to be doing, and seeming to be enjoying the hell out of it.
Go watch The State. Go watch Wet Hot. Go watch Stella, Viva Variety, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Role Models, Reno 911!, The Ten, Childrens Hospital, Medical Police, Party Down, They Came Together, Doris, Wanderlust, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Burning Love, I Love the ‘90s, Wainy Days, I Love the ‘90s: Part Deux, and old Pets.com commercials. Go see the Middle Aged Dad Jam Band. Go catch the next leg of the reunion tour.
And then watch Long Live the State when it becomes available on your next Delta flight.
BONUS CONTENT:
I asked ChatGPT to provide me with a list of catchphrases from State sketches. Here’s what they served up:
Those didn’t seem… right. I asked for more:
Precisely none of these are catchphrases from State sketches.
I pressed further:
A PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN: In preparing this paragraph and making this facetious argument, I had asked ChatGPT for a list of movies that received a boost from premiering at Tribeca. They* gave me the wrong info — TWICE. First, it spit out The Station Agent, with which I used to derive the equation “no 9/11 = no Game of Thrones.” But upon internal review, it appears Tom McCarthy’s 2003 directorial debut The Station Agent — starring Peter Dinklage as the quiet, withdrawn, unmarried Finbar McBride in his breakthrough role — actually premiered at Sundance.
Next, ChatGPT suggested Half Nelson as an example of a critically-acclaimed film that premiered at Tribeca — ALSO NOT TRUE as it, too, premiered at Sundance (in 2006).
WTF ChatGPT??? Also WTF Tribeca Film Festival??? Has Tribeca done anything for anyone… OTHER THAN ROBERT DE NIRO???
For Half Nelson, I began crafting a variation on the theme: Without 9/11, there would be no La La Land. There would be no La La Land because there would be no Tribeca Film Festival. No Tribeca Film Festival, no Half Nelson premiere. No Half Nelson premiere, no Ryan Gosling being acclaimed and sought-after for serious, gritty roles. No acclaimed Gosling, no casting in films like Drive or Blue Valentine. No casting in films like Drive or Blue Valentine, no casting in La La Land — considering La La Land director Damien Chazelle has cited Gosling’s performances in those films as the impelling force to cast him as romantic and idealistic dorky loser jazz pianist Sebastian Wilder, believing he would bring complexity to the character (not to mention a COMPLETELY REALISTIC HUNK FACTOR).
*Yes, this is a footnote within a footnote. And yes, I use they/them pronouns for ChatGPT. I think it’s fair to assume they identify as non-binary, despite literally being zeroes and ones.
Directed by the great Seth Olenick in collaboration with Mike Sacks on their hilarious and ingenious This Is How We Love: The Foto-Novel
One lucky recipient turned out to be a young filmmaker in his own right, going by the name of Adrian Anderson, whose 2023 feature Pomp and Circumstance is releasing as VOD on NoBudge in July — check it out!
Astute readers will know “ass penny” is property of an entirely different 90s sketch group: The Upright Citizens Brigade. SOMETIMES IT BE LIKE THAT!