Art has always been a favoured method of processing personal experiences, be it love, fear or general existentialism. Recently, “ Hamnet ” tells the (somewhat fictional) story of William Shakespeare processing his grief through his writing. “Is This Thing On?” adapts the story of John Bishop who found an outlet through standup comedy following the breakdown of his marriage. The film is directed by Bradley Cooper and rather than being the big-swing Oscar-bait biopic of “Maestro” or the star-studded toe-tapping remake of “A Star is Born”, his third feature marks a more grounded effort. The result being too safe to be overly disappointing but not remarkable enough to be so memorable. My biggest disappointment with the film is that it starts out so boring. Alex (Will Arnett) is disillusioned, both in his life but also in his marriage with Tess (Laura Dern). Their relationship has grown stale and they find themselves accepting that that’s just how it is and that it’s best that they split am...