From top partyer and muse forNational Lampoon’s Van Wilderto A-list stand-up comedian, Bert Kreischer has had an extremely diverse and jack-of-all-trades career. He’s starred in multiple television series including FX’sHurt Bertalong withTrip Flip and Bert the Conqueroron the Travel Channel. He’s also a productive podcaster withBertcast,2 Bears, 1 Cavewith fellow comedian Tom Segura, andBill Bertwith comedian Bill Burr. So Kreischer has made the jump from the stage to television, and now he’s taking his act to the big screen withThe Machine,a semi-autobiographical filmbased on stand-up bits from his previous acts. This novel concept has attracted some high-profile co-stars as well.
How far an anecdote froma stand-up comedy actcan be stretched into screen time is up for debate. There’s only so much you may do with a bit lasting a few minutes. TakeThe Jerky Boys Movie, Night at the Roxbury,andSuperstaras examples of the tenuous relationship between sketches and full-length feature films. Sometimes comedy should just stay relegated to small chunks instead of blowing it up with filler. But we could also be looking at a short story turned movie here, which is a much more successful template. Here’s everything we know aboutThe Machine.
The Machine: The Plot
The stand-up bit in question revolves around Kreischer visiting Russia while studying abroad. While there he didn’t so much soak up the culture as he did join forces with the local mafia. He brought his party animal ways with him to Russia, which apparently didn’t go over so wellwith the local crime syndicate. Bert is kidnapped by the said mafia, along with his father, and he has to piece together the drunken haze of events to determine what got these capos so mad at him to begin with.
Related:The 8 Funniest Movies Starring Stand-Up Comedians
The official synopsis forThe Machinereads “Bert’s drunken past catches up with him 20 years down the road when he and his father are kidnapped by those Bert wronged 20 years ago while drunk on a college semester abroad in Russia.” Sure, we all have our cringey regrets from decades ago we’d like to forget, especially when booze was thrown into the mix. “I should have said…,” “Ishouldn’thave said…,” and so on. But getting mixed up with violent criminals rarely makes that list for the average person, so dropping the average person into that buzzsaw could make for a great movie. “It was a very big moment, the moment that got me to where I am today,” Kreischer toldVarietyofThe Machinepersona.
“It’s mind-blowing. It really is,” Kreischer said ofthe Machinein an interview with New York’sQ104.3. “At times it kind of overwhelms me. So in flashback scenes you see the young Bert and I got teary-eyed — this is the dumbest thing to get teary-eyed but he introduced himself in the movie. He goes, ‘My name is Bert. I don’t go to class very much.’ [Laughs] And I got teary-eyed. I was like, ‘That is exactly who I am! That is exactly what I said, and I’m seeing someone act it out on screen!'”
The Machine: Cast & Crew
With Kreischer playinga fictionized versionof himself, other figures in his life join the cast, namely Mark Hamill who will play Albert Kreischer Sr. Rounding out the cast is Stephanie Kurtzuba (Wolf of Wall Street, the Irishman), Martin Ford (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) as Sponge, Set Sjöstrand as Vanya (Vikings: Valhalla) and Jess Gabor (Shameless). Also joining the cast ofThe Machineare Jimmy Tatro, Robert Maaser, and Brian Caspe.
The story itself is a wild one, but the interplay between Kreischer and Hamill could be the star of the show, as Hamill’s character looks to be on the straight-laced side in the trailer forThe Machine.
Related:Here Are Some of the Funniest Stand-Up Comedians Netflix Has to Offer
In an interview with Looper, Kreischer said “We had a Zoom [meeting] and I think [Hamill] was on the fence and the first thing he said was the first thing my dad said: ‘you know, why do you take your shirt off on stage?’… he was [like] ‘why would you do that?'”
The movie is directed by Key and Peele alum Peter Atencio, who also helmed the comics’ film debutKeanu. The Machine’sscript is written byScrubsscribe Kevin Biegel, who also wrote for the seriesCougar Town.His partner in credits is Scotty Landes known for writing forWorkaholicsandMa.With this pedigree behind the camera and scenes, we’re likely in for an extremely silly and quirky time with this picture. A 90-minute Key and Peele sketch meets the adventures of the Sacred Heart Hospital crew sounds good to us.
Release Date
The Machineis scheduled for release in theaters on June 26, 2025. It will be the first release under Legendary Picture’s new partnership with Sony.
Making an entire movie out of a comedy bit could be a disaster or a sneaky triumph. Based on the popularity of Kreischer, and the talent amassed to put outThe Machine,don’t be surprised if it’s the latter.
