That's Funny, Isn't It: Character Descriptions

Will is a struggling standup comic. He's riddled with self-doubt — he's not sure if his jokes are funny, he doesn't know if he wants to marry his girlfriend, and most importantly, he's has no clear idea what he's doing with his life. Though outwardly talkative and lively, when he's alone he becomes brooding and listless. In sum, Will is driven by a yearning to succeed, but badgered by a self-conscious and paralyzing fear of failure.

Grace works part-time as a waitress at a local cafe. It doesn't pay the bills, to say nothing of career satisfaction. What she really wants is to be a singer — not one of those cheap, sleazy, all-image pop tarts, but a real singer, a jazz singer, bebopping and scatting legitimate, meaningful, soulful music. She's thinking about going back to school, but just can't seem to get around to it. Waitressing, a possible pregnancy, and life just seem to take too much effort. Grace, in a way, has resigned her life to failure, even though she's only twenty-nine.

Chuck runs a fairly successful real-estate business from home. Blinded to everything except money and entrepeneuring, he doesn't understand how a joke about waitressing he tells to Grace could be offensive. When Will tries to have a conversation with him, both men can only say empty, meaningless soundbites. He is achieving success on his own terms, but at the cost of life's other joys.