Underplayed Gems

You Had to Be There (2025)

You Had to Be There poster
Original title
You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution...
Directed by
Nick Davis
Genre
documentary film
Country
United States
Rated
NR
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This documentary looks back at a 1972 Toronto production of the musical Godspell. Many cast members from that show later became key figures in comedy, working on The Second City and Saturday Night Live.

nostalgiccelebratorywarmlivelyinformativeaffectionatereverentupbeat

What happens

You Had To Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way) is a 2025 American documentary film, directed by Nick Davis. The documentary film centers on a 1972 production of the stage musical Godspell at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, from which many of its cast members would soon go on to have a transformative impact on both Canadian and American comedy through their involvement in projects such as The Second City and Saturday Night Live. Cast members in the production included Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin and Jayne Eastwood, with Paul Shaffer serving as musical director. At TIFF, the film was second runner-up for the People's Choice Award, Documentary. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.