10 Movie Villains That Were Total Fanboys

Martin Scorsese's masterful black comedy The King of Comedy centers around Rupert Pupkin (an astonishing Robert De Niro) - an aspiring stand-up comedian with mental health issues who becomes dangerously obsessed with famous late-night TV host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis).

Following an encounter with Langford, Pupkin believes that his big break as a comedian is on the horizon, only to be rebuffed by Langford's staff and eventually Langford himself as he persistently attempts to book a slot on his show.

Rupert's obsession only ramps up from there, showing up uninvited to Langford's home and eventually kidnapping him, holding him ransom in exchange for an appearance on his show.

Though Rupert's routine actually goes down well with the audience - albeit under the impression that he's joking about kidnapping Langford - he's arrested immediately thereafter.

While the film's final sequence is steeped in ambiguity, it's nevertheless clear that Rupert's delusional fascination with his idol hasn't diminished in the slightest.

Given that Scorsese's film is one of cinema's all-time great portrayals of obsession, Todd Phillips was smart to use it as the blueprint for Joker, where The Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) is besotted with late-night talk show host Murray Franklin (ingeniously played by De Niro himself).