Production Designer Kevin Thompson on Capturing NYC’s Iconic Comedy Scene in Bradley Cooper’s “Is This Thing On?”

Production designer Kevin Thompson knows New York and its environs like the back of his hand (one of those old, paper MTA maps), and few things give him more joy than showcasing his knowledge of and love for the city on the big screen. His work on director Bradley Cooper‘s Is This Thing On? is a perfect example.

Having already immortalized the Big Apple in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Igby Goes Down, 54, and The King of Staten Island, the dramedy’s heart lies in the Village’s legendary comedy scene. Will Arnett plays Alex, a man who finds solace in stand-up comedy as his marriage to his wife Tess, played by Laura Dern, crumbles. The estranged couple must navigate co-parenting and their new lives while reassessing the choices and sacrifices they have made. Is This Thing On? lands in select theaters on December 19.

Here, Thompson, who previously worked with Cooper on Maestro, explains where the collaborators start on any project, how they maintain the authenticity of locations, and how they filmed at the iconic Comedy Cellar.

What were your first conversations you had with Bradley about this?

We always start on a conceptual, emotional level. What do you want to feel when you watch this movie? How do we get to know these characters, and what’s the geography? What’s believable and natural? We have to get that before we start discussing tangible details, such as set dressing or locations. Bradley likes to work from the characters’ emotions outward.

There are a handful of focal locations for this, including the Comedy Cellar, Alex’s apartment, and Cooper’s character Balls’ apartment. Did you get those locked first, then fill in everything in between?

We actually started with an overall package. We got the backstory going on how Alex and Tess’ suburban house was about 45 minutes away up the West Side Highway. Alex lived in the Village, not far from the Comedy Cellar, and we wanted to make that realistic. He lives in a very bland apartment. We knew from the beginning that we were going to build it because of the way we wanted to shoot it. Balls [Cooper] and Christine [Andra Day] lived in a loft they had lived in for years in DUMBO or somewhere in Brooklyn. We figured out the Oyster Bay house, the geography of the train’s route, and where it would end up, so we started mapping the world and had imagery for each part. We could see the whole movie and would juggle things around as needed. We felt we needed Jill’s [Jordan Jensen] East Village apartment to contrast with where Alex was in his development as a comic and in his marriage. We also filled in by building things, like the attic room in Oyster Bay, for the big scene between Tess and Alex at the end of the movie. We were inspired by the Stanford White House that we found. We thought it would be nice to have a turret room, and the only way we could really shoot in that, practically, was to build it.

Movies and TV shows set in New York often put characters in apartments they could never afford in real life. Friends is a great example. Was it important to avoid that?

Absolutely. Alex says at the beginning of the movie that he works in finance. He has a house and family that he’s paying for. He ends up renting a decent, one-bedroom apartment in a nondescript, sad building, but realistically, he could have afforded that. From the beginning, Bradley wanted New York City to be a character. We wanted to be out on the streets, feel naturalistic, and avoid exaggerating the amount of money these people had, unlike Friends. Those were kids; these are adults, so they actually have money at this point. The Oyster Bay house was in Balls’ family, and there’s a whole backstory to him that the audience doesn’t get told. As a designer, this was a genre of movie where, from the beginning, we wanted the design to be practically invisible. We wanted it to augment the characters, to tell something about them through the design of where they lived and how relaxed, or messy, life is. 

Are there other ways that manifested?

It’s not staged or designed with intention; accidents happen, and there are messes everywhere. There are signs of real life. It’s not a polished Hollywood look; it’s about keeping the utility out of the design. You see the cash registers, the screens, and the trash cans, and typically in another movie with a different point of view, we would clean up a location much more. In this case, we left them the way they were, and sometimes even enhanced the mess and the f***ed-up quality to the way things are so that it would feel more natural.

Did you have to do anything to the Comedy Cellar to film there?

We did quite a bit of work to make the lighting work for the camera, adjust the layout, raise the stage, and get camera points of view that worked with all the mirrors. Hopefully, it’s all invisible, and it feels the way it does when you’re there. It was the same with the Olive Tree café above the Comedy Cellar, where the comics hang out and sit in the booth. All that art is what is authentically existing in the place, and that corner booth is where they really hang out, from Judd Apatow to Chris Rock. We wanted those people to see the movie and go, ‘This is exactly the way it is.’ There was a lot of attention to understanding what that felt like. Between Matthew Libatique, the DP; Bradley, the director; the camera operator; the prop department; and the set decorators, everybody understood what we were doing from the beginning. Bradley has his eyes on everything and understands what each department does. He is micromanaging in a loving way. He makes everybody step up their game and understand what he’s doing, because he talks about it to everybody from the set PAs to the prop people. It’s a beautiful process.

You have portrayed New York as a different character in many movies. For Is This Thing On? it’s the comedy clubs and the world of comedians, but with Birdman, you focused on another heart of New York: Broadway. Did you find any similarities, or were they very different beasts?

I consider myself an expert on New York. I’ve lived here since 1981, and I’ve done 35 movies here, each with its own point of view. New York can offer so many things. I’m always interested in how New York has changed so much since my first movie here, what each movie is about, and what it can say about the city. This was about Downtown, Brooklyn, people moving to the suburbs, and these very specific neighborhoods. I know this neighborhood very well because I live near the Comedy Cellar, so it’s my world. It’s also Bradley’s world because he lives two blocks from me. Part of what I love about this job is that I get to do something different with every movie and director. Some directors want a very spare, clinical, rich-person’s New York, and others want the opposite, so it’s really fun to create different worlds. I’m familiar with many different pockets of this city and its boroughs, so it’s really fun to work with another New Yorker like Bradley.

When it comes to local talent, is there someone you always call on for anything you need or for an answer to a question you can’t provide?

There’s not one person in particular, but I have a few teams that I can bring on for specific jobs. There’s a really strong community of leading set dressers, decorators, art directors, set designers, scene painters, and construction coordinators in New York, and I depend on all of them. I work with different groups for different movies, depending on the size and nature of the film, but there’s definitely a strong community I depend on.

New York remains set up for filmmakers. What can be done to make things even easier?

I would like the city to have more stage space for building. There are a lot of things going to New Jersey right now, and I am a designer who really believes you have to shoot New York in New York. We’re building more stage space and trying to keep things here. The crews put up with a lot on the streets, and they’re used to it. It’s down and dirty. 

Is This Thing On? will be released in select theaters on Friday, December 19, with a wider release on Christmas Day.

Featured image: Will Arnett with director Bradley Cooper on the set of IS THIS THING ON? Photo by Searchlight Pictures/Jason McDonald, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2025 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.