[Editor’s note: The following article contains some possible spoilers for “Adam Sandler: Love You.”]
There’s something off about the Southern California comedy club that plays home to Adam Sandler’s latest Netflix comedy special, “Adam Sandler: Love You.” It’s… carpeted? Like, even the walls? There’s a hole under de facto musical director Dan Bulla’s setup, and his keyboard is slipping into it. A dog is wandering around. And the Windows 95-running monitors simply do not work, which takes a big bite out of a few of Sandler’s jokes that rely on some visual aids. And it definitely smells.
And while you might not be able to tell during the earliest moments of the Josh Safdie-directed special, you’ll be in on the joke soon. That club? It might look and feel familiar — kinda like, well, maybe the basement of a suburban library? — but it’s also a space that doesn’t exactly exist. When Sandler and Safdie brought their special to New York City for its premiere last week, they spent much of the screening’s post-Q&A (moderated by “Saturday Night Live” star Sarah Sherman) chatting about the set that plays home to Sandler’s latest comedy offering and packs plenty of its own humor.
“That whole set we built, the idea was, we’ll make it the worst venue ever,” Safdie said. “This kind of liminal space that you kind of feel you like you know but you don’t know.” Sherman jumped in, “I saw a picture of the set, and texted Ronnie [Bronstein, producer], and I was like, ‘That looks a lot like the basement of the Great Neck Public Library, where I used to do improv shows with anime nerds when I was 14,’ and Ronnie was like, ‘Well, that’s the basement where I learned guitar with degenerates!’ Same basement of the local library.”
Safdie made clear that the show was not shot at said public library but that it may have served as an inspiration for the look and feel of the show. What kind of place would have old “crummy” monitors that didn’t work, serving as a point of contention in the middle of what could have been a more traditional comedy special? Safdie called out production designer Sam Lisenco for helping craft that idea.
The special was shot at a real theater in Glendale, California, over the course of six full shows, all nearly three hours long, and cut down to a tight hour for “Love You.” When asked how the (also very real) live audience reacted to some of the wackier issues involving the set, like the hole that opens up under Bulla’s keyboard, Safdie said, “I remember, after the first show, someone who was working on the crew went up to Ronnie and said, ‘You’ll get it next time, it’s all good.’ Which was the greatest compliment. The only person who really got it was Chris Rock, he was at one of the shows, he was the only person who was like, ‘I didn’t buy any of it.’ And I was like, ‘Why?’ and he was like, ‘Because I know Sandler, and he would have broken everyone’s neck.’”
To get the look they wanted, Safdie’s team outfitted it with everything from wall-to-wall (and actually on the walls) carpeting and those bad monitors, and the scenic design people came in to “make it look like it’s been there for 60 years, and cigarettes have been put out [on the seats], and a two-liter bottle of Coke was spilled somewhere,” as the director explained. “It had a real vibe in there. You really do feel like you’re there hanging out with your friends.”
“Adam Sandler: Love You” is now streaming on Netflix.
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