Review by Rebecca M. Alvin
Trends and cultural shifts often happen imperceptibly, and it is only upon reflection much later that we understand where they began. But sometimes the beginning is actually quite clear. For example, Amy Heckerling’s 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High can be seen as the moment when multiple actors were simultaneously launched into what would become illustrious careers—Sean Penn, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Nicholas Cage, among others. There are parallels to this in the careers of comedians up north in the 1972 Toronto production of Godspell. The new documentary You Had to Be There, directed by Nick Davis and executive produced by Judd Apatow, points to this production as the spark that ignited the Canadian comedy invasion of the late 1970s that has blossomed into other areas of American entertainment over the course of the ensuing 50 years.
Godspell, which starred Canadian actors Martin Short, Dave Thomas, Victor Garber, and Eugene Levy, as well as Americans Gilda Radnor and Andrea Martin, had ripple effects for other Canadian-American collaborations, also bringing Canadians Dan Akroyd, John Candy, Mike Myers, Phil Hartman, and Norm MacDonald (to name a few) to us via Saturday Night Live. Then, Chicago’s famed comedy improv institution, The Second City opened up in Toronto where an even funnier show, SCTV started up, featuring Levy, Thomas, Martin, and others, including Rick Moranis and the late Catherine O’Hara, changing the way comedy on television was done.
One of the best strategies for documentary filmmaking is to hone in on a very specific story you are trying to tell, even if it naturally invites additional threads to follow. Davis follows this advice with You Had to Be There, focusing very tightly on how the production came together, how Thomas, Levy, and Short became friends at McMaster University before it, and what the impact was on everyone involved, dramatizing key moments with animation.
The interviews are talking-heads style, but with some of the funniest people on Earth, and hearing them recall the energy and creativity of the time is laugh-out-loud funny. It’s not to say there weren’t tragedies along the way from 1972 to today, notably a cast member’s traumatic experiences in show business and the death of Gilda Radner at 42 years old from ovarian cancer. But one of the greatest assets is a collection of audio recordings Martin Short made (illegally) of the show, which was never filmed, and of his own teenaged voice singing Sinatra tunes.
Overall, You Had to Be There makes you wish you were there, because it’s where it all began for not only these performers, but other Canadian talents who saw possibilities open up for them after Godspell’s success. Today, with Hollywood superstars from Canada including Jim Carrey, Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Gosling, and Seth Rogan, it’s hard to imagine, but there was a time where Canadian actors had little hope of crossing over into the dominating entertainment sphere of the United States. As Mike Myers put it in the film, “As a Canadian, we’re sort of at the border with our nose pressed against the glass.” Godspell got them to the other side of the glass, and this film takes you back to that time and has you thinking about your own youth and the trajectory that has taken you to where you are today.
You Had to Be There screens at Waters Edge Cinema, 237 Commercial St., 2nd Fl., Provincetown, beginning on Friday, September 25. For full list of screening dates and times, call or visit provincetownfilm.org/cinema.
