I’m ‘George Lucas’: A Connor Ratliff Story directed by Ryan Jacobi is genuinely heartfelt. It follows New York-based comedian Connor Ratliff and his role as “George Lucas” on The George Lucas Talk Show, an improvised monthly comedy series that takes the form of a late-night panel talk show where real-life guests pretend to talk with the real George Lucas. Most of the performances were held at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City, but during the pandemic, it found a new audience over Zoom.
We watch Ratliff go through his paces before each show, explaining himself along the way. Collaborators like Griffin Newman (who plays “Watto”) and Patrick Cotnoir (who produces the show) attempt to explain Ratliff to us. The explanation, more or less, is that there isn’t one: He’s presented as a mercurial type with a love for comedy as craft; softly spoken mostly, always excited by creative ideas; most alive when talking through a bit he’s just cracked or when batting around with Cotnoir or Newman thoughts about what might make for a good show. There’s a longish scene here where he talks about how funny and perfect it is that upcoming guest Mo Rocca’s name rhymes with Chewbacca. Which it is! And which it does! This part was not less than charming.
Ratliff developed a larger audience with his podcast Dead Eyes: The title referred to something Tom Hanks reportedly said about him after firing him from HBO’s Band of Brothers that he had “dead eyes.” That event caused Ratliff to retreat from pursuing acting work in any serious way and so says more than one person interviewed for this documentary remains something he carries with him.
Where I’m ‘George Lucas’: A Connor Ratliff Story really shines is in its lived-in examination of why some people want to make other people laugh, and why others want to make things. Ratliff himself seems consumed by this question in a way that’s set against the backdrop of The George Lucas Talk Show: “Why do I care if a bunch of strangers like a show that I do?” It is not unpleasingly surprising that he has been doing it for close to 10 years; it also does not hurt that he is keenly aware of how self-selecting an audience for this or any show about Star Wars can be. “It’s okay for some things to be smaller,” he says at one point. This is modesty, pure and simple.