Michael Townsend Wright

A fringe therapist takes the world by storm with a galaxy-brained new approach to self-help called the Jackman Method. Through immersive sessions, he transforms wayward young men into semi-employable outsider artists—all from the comfort of his posh home office in New York City. When an unhinged ex-patient returns to his care and is chosen to headline the practice’s first ever cabaret night, the fallout is immense. Diva behavior, grueling rehearsals, and public scandal threaten to destroy not only the show but the Jackman Method itself.

A teenage cartoonist rejects the comforts of his suburban life in a misguided quest for soul.

In this offbeat and surreal comedy, frustrated playwright Mark becomes addicted to huffing perfume to conjure memories from a previous Italian summer vacation. As he grows increasingly obsessed with chasing the high of the past, his present life unravels.

A simmering 40-year showbiz rivalry boils over in an Italian restaurant in New Jersey.

A sickly Mob Don's obsession that a pizza parlor owner is his missing long lost son.

Talk show legend Joe Franklin discovers an abandoned baby on his doorstep.

Organized crime boss Meyer Lansky remembers his life as he is moving about the world looking for some country that will take him in since the USA have put out an extradition order for him.

After a brief flash-forward to Frank Sinatra as an old man, saying "I miss my guys," the movie's main narrative begins during high points in the solo careers of the Rat Pack: Dean Martin has become a big success despite the breakup of his partnership with Jerry Lewis; Sinatra's career is at its peak; Sammy Davis, Jr., is making a comeback after a near fatal car crash, and standup comic Joey Bishop is gaining exposure as an opening act for the other three. The Pack becomes complete when Sinatra reconciles with actor Peter Lawford, who has been ostracized since being seen out publicly with Sinatra's ex-wife, Ava Gardner.

Faux-vaudeville comedy

One example of many magnificent Rothbard & Wright collaborations of the eighties and nineties, this offbeat 16mm short birthed the character of Charlie Putz and was soon followed by Rothbard’s surreal independent 16mm feature, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLIE PUTZ, starring Townsend Wright as an elevator operator with his head in the clouds, premiering at Anthology Film Archives in 1994.

Deranged projectionist Mad Ron shows a movie theater full of rowdy zombies a diverse assortment of horror and exploitation film trailers from his private collection while ventriloquist Nick Pawlow and his foul-mouthed zombie dummy Happy Goldsplatt provide lowbrow comic relief.