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The stand-up sets are just a starting point

Los Angeles Times

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December 23, 2025

‘Is This Thing On?’ starts as a midlife dive into comedy, but it’s got more on its mind.

- ROBERT ABELE

The stand-up sets are just a starting point

WILL ARNETT and Laura Dern play a separated couple in Bradley Cooper's latest directorial feature.

(JASON MCDONALD Searchlight Pictures)

Therapy often gets mined for comedy but we don’t often see comedy treated as sincere therapy. “Is This Thing On?” from director and co-writer Bradley Cooper, makes the case that glum dad Alex (Will Arnett), new to Splitsville after he and his wife of 20 years, Tess (Laura Dern), mutually agree to separate, may have figured out an ideal coping mechanism by signing up for open mic night.

Not that we see this by-day finance guy reject professional help in favor of some untapped passion. (Vamping for five minutes in front of strangers negates the cover charge.) But in bringing his marital woes to the stage and getting some chuckles, Alex believes he’s hit upon something: a talking cure that comes with a fresh identity, new friends, an acceptable level of risk and a way out of unhappiness.

Los Angeles Times'den DAHA FAZLA HİKAYE

Los Angeles Times

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In a remarkable rebuke of Republican leadership, the House passed legislation Thursday, in a 230-196 vote, that would extend expired healthcare subsidies for those who get coverage through the Affordable Care Act as renegade GOP lawmakers joined essentially all Democrats in voting for the measure.

time to read

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