Good-bye, Cruel World is a 1983 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

 directed by David Irving and starring Dick Shawn

Dick Shawn

Dick Shawn was an American actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Shawn was born as Richard Schulefand in Buffalo, New York. He played Sylvester Marcus, son of Mrs. Marcus , in Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Lorenzo St...

 and Cynthia Sikes

Cynthia Sikes

Cynthia Sikes is an American actress known for her television roles. On JAG, she played the love interest of Adm. Albert Jethro 'A.J.' Chegwidden . Her breakthrough role was playing Dr. Annie Cavanero on the critically acclaimed series St. Elsewhere, which she appeared in for the first three...

. It was co-written by Shawn and Nicholas Niciphor.

Plot

The film parodies the various gimmicks that were used to get audiences into theatres by claiming to be based on audience choice, although all of the selections are pre-selected, and the actual audience response is not measured within the theatre or by choices of the home viewer. The film was sold with images of a man flushing himself down the toilet. The story involves newscaster Rodney Pointsetter (Shawn) who is so depressed between his job and his family that he tries to make a film about his life, which he intends to culminate with his own suicide. It is often interrupted with irrelevant comic sketches that an emcee (Allan Stephan) claims that the audience prefers to see. One sketch features Angelique Pettyjohn

Angelique Pettyjohn

Angelique Pettyjohn was an American actress and burlesque queen. She is best known in show business for her appearance as the drill thrall Shahna in the Star Trek episode, "The Gamesters of Triskelion".-Biography:...

 as a stripping nun

Nun

A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...

, and another Dan Frischman

Dan Frischman

Dan Frischman is an American actor, noted for his many roles of playing socially inept "geeks" and "nerds". Frischman's birthdate is often listed as being 1964, as early in his career his acting agent had him practice age fabrication to seem five years younger which made him more eligible for...

 hosting "Things Your Parents Used to Say," while Rodney's gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 brother, Ainsley, also played by Shawn, stages an opera in his house. The opera sequence was staged by John Hall

John Hall

John Hall may refer to:American government:* John Hall , U.S. Representative from New York and former member of the band Orleans...

 of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...

. and featured Vincent Cole, Johnny Guarnieri

Johnny Guarnieri

Johnny Guarnieri was an American virtuoso jazz and stride pianist, born in New York City, perhaps best known for his big band stints with Benny Goodman in 1939 and with Artie Shaw in 1940...

, Dennis Parnell, Tanino Provitera, David Romano, Gene Shaw, James Sterret Bryant, Starleigh Godfrey, Pam Scanlon, and Susan Grossman.