Trama

When seasoned comedian George Simmons learns of his terminal, inoperable health condition, his desire to form a genuine friendship causes him to take a relatively green performer under his wing as his opening act.

George is a very successful stand up comedian who learns that he has an untreatable blood disorder and is given less than a year to live. Ira is a struggling up-and-coming stand up comedian who works at a deli and has yet to figure out his onstage persona. One night, these two perform at the same club and George takes notice of Ira. George hires Ira to be his semi-personal assistant as well as his friend.—Anonymous

George Simmons, who started his performing career as a stand-up comic, is a movie star, generally of high concept lowbrow movies. His movie star status affords him many privileges in life, such as all the indiscriminate sex he wants, which is a lot, although he would admit that he leads a lonely life in not having what he considers true close friends. He has just been diagnosed as having a rare form of leukemia, which his doctors want to try to treat with experimental therapy. He decides not to divulge the news of his illness to the public. Reflecting on his life because of the diagnosis, George decides to go back to his roots of performing stand-up at comedy clubs. It is at one of those impromptu comedy club appearances that he meets Ira Wright, a struggling comic. Ira isn't adept as a stand-up comic, largely as he doesn't know how to deliver the material with impact. He is not averse to doing whatever to get laughs at his shows, from paying friends and acquaintances to be audience plants, to stealing material. He has a "woe is me" attitude about his lack of success and his need to make money as a clerk at a supermarket deli counter. Regardless of quitting that job, he sleeps on the pull-out sofa of his friend, Mark Taylor Jackson, who has a modicum of fame starring in "Yo Teach", a second rate sitcom albeit airing on network TV. Another interloper in Mark's apartment is their mutual friend, Leo Koenig, a fellow stand-up with slightly better comic instincts than Ira. It is only out of circumstance that it is Ira who George chooses first to write him some material, then second to work as his personal assistant, that latter job largely as his friend for hire, which Ira gladly accepts as a way both for a glimpse into fame and into comic success. George also contemplates reconnecting with his old girlfriend, former actress Laura, the one he believes got away, their break-up twelve years ago because of his infidelity. Laura is now married to Clarke, an Aussie businessman who is often away on business in China, they who have two adolescent daughters. George eventually learns that Laura is unhappy in her marriage, in part because of Clarke's absences and what she believes is also his infidelity. George and Laura do reconnect as she finds out about his dire diagnosis. George's relationship with both Laura and Ira may be affected by the ups and downs in his life prognosis.—Huggo

A stand-up comedian, George Simmons, discovers that he has a terminal, untreatable condition and doesn't have very long to live. As a way to do something long lasting before he dies he takes a young, greenhorn comedian, Ira, under his wing.—grantss

George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a very successful 40-something comedian and actor. However, he is self-absorbed, lonely, and estranged from his family. When diagnosed with acute Myeloid leukemia (he had an abnormal CDC, white blood cells were 4 times the size that they should have been, and his hemoglobin was very low at 7 grams per deciliter), George is offered an experimental treatment that has an eight-percent chance of therapeutic response. This was because that the doctor did not believe that radiation therapy of chemotherapy would have any effect on George at all. George is worth upwards of $238 million, but is estranged from his father (George Coe) and sister (Nicol Paone).

Believing he is about to die, he decides to return to his roots and do stand-up comedy. As a young man, George used to be very funny and would prank call all manners of institutions and have fun with them.

Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) is an aspiring stand-up comedian who lives in an apartment with his two best friends in Los Angeles, Mark Taylor Jackson (Jason Schwartzman) and Leo Koenig (Jonah Hill). Mark successfully leads his own TV comedy series and gets regular weekly checks for $25,000 which he rubs in Ira's face. Leo is a rising comedy star and recurring guest star on Mark's TV show. Ira is struggling to establish himself in the stand-up comedy genre and is not considered to be funny by his own friends

Mark stars in a sitcom, Yo Teach, where he plays a teacher for a group of misfit students. Despite the obvious failings of the show, Mark constantly brags about his high income. When fellow stand-up comedienne Daisy (Aubrey Plaza) visits the apartment, Mark magnanimously tells Ira that he will hold off having sex with her for ten days in order for Ira to make a play for her.

At a comedy club, George takes the stage to deliver a dark routine, which Ira mocks in his follow-on act. Randy Springs (Aziz Ansari) is one of Ira's rivals at the comedy club. Ira meets George in the parking lot, and even though George is angry with Ira for making fun of him, he admits that Ira's jokes were funny. George calls Ira the next morning and asks him to write jokes for George's upcoming gig at a MySpace corporate event. Ira becomes George's joke writer, opening for him in big comedy clubs, often meeting with real-life comedians who talk about the business.

George hires Ira as his assistant. When George tells him about his condition, Ira cares for him through the treatment. Ira implores George to tell people about his disease. George previously had called his ex-fiance, Laura (Leslie Mann), to apologize for his infidelities when they were together, but does not tell her why he is having a change of heart. Meanwhile, Ira awkwardly asks Daisy out, but later discovers that she and Mark have slept together, and angrily cuts off all ties with her.

Laura learns about George's illness, visits him at his house, and confesses that her husband, Clarke, cheats on her as well (he later confirms he received a happy ending at a massage parlor). In the past, George had also cheated on Laura multiple times.

They reconcile and tentatively become friends. George's physician tells him that the leukemia is in remission. George is happy but is unsure what to do with his life now. He decides he wants a long-term relationship and calls Laura but does not tell her the news. George and Ira go to a gig in San Francisco. Laura meets them there. George makes Ira tell Laura during intermission that he is free of disease. George later explains that he did not want to jinx it.

Laura invites George and Ira to her house in Marin County. George and Ira spend time with Laura and her two young daughters. George and Laura sneak into the guest house together to have sex. Meanwhile, Ira tells both daughters that George is healthy. When Clarke (Eric Bana) unexpectedly arrives, Laura asks George to maintain the facade of being terminally ill. In the morning, Clarke bids George a tearful goodbye - which is cut short when his daughters reveal that George is actually healthy now. Clarke confronts Laura and accuses her of cheating.

In response, Laura confronts him with his infidelity, and he drives off in a huff. Laura tells George that she plans to leave Clarke. George is overjoyed, but Ira tells him their affair will destroy a family. Angered, George threatens to fire him. The next day, George, Ira, and Laura watch the video of Laura's oldest daughter, Mabel (Maude Apatow), performing the song "Memory" from the musical Cats; Ira and Laura find the performance moving, but George appears bored. Laura leaves for the airport to tell Clarke she is leaving him. Ira lies to George and follows her.

At the airport, Clarke confesses his infidelity to Laura, and pleads with her to give their marriage another try. Laura agrees and says her affair with George was a mere flirtation. They discover Ira following them and goad him into admitting that he is trying to stop George and Laura from running off together. An enraged Clarke chases George out of his house and beats him up. George demands Laura choose between him and Clarke. She chooses her husband, and bids George a tearful goodbye.

Heading back to Los Angeles, George berates Ira for his betrayal and fires him. Ira upbraids George for not learning anything from his near-death experience and tells him that he will never be able to escape his own personal failings because of his selfish nature. Ira returns to his old job at the deli department while he starts to date Daisy. George attends Ira's stand-up act and sees that his old assistant has become a far more confident performer. The next day, George finds Ira at work and admits that even though he is no longer sick, his attitude needs improvement. George and Ira tell each other jokes as equals, as they laugh together and repair their friendship.