Park City area resident Heather Wilk is the producer of the film “Show Business Is My Life, But I Can’t Prove It,” which premiered at the 2022 Nashville Film Festival.
“My inspiration was actually the director behind the movie G.B. Shannon,” Wilk said. “He had hours of interviews with some of the most incredible comedians in existence from Steve Martin to David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien. And he was trying to finish this documentary.”
The documentary tells the tale of oddball comedian Gary Mule Deer, who got his start performing Johnny Cash covers at a South Dakota brothel.
“I make fun of my grandpa, but actually he was pretty successful," Mule Deer says in a joke in the film. "He was a veterinarian and a taxidermist. I know what you’re thinking - no matter what happened, you got your dog back.”
Mule Deer has been categorized as a prop comic and is known for giving star power to the rubber chicken. He still performs more than 100 shows a year, Wilk said.
“It’s this unique approach to comedy that allows for grandparents, parents, and children to all laugh together, which I think especially in today’s time, is not very common,” she said. “He’s always proud to be clean, he’s a clean comic. Sometimes they’re on the verge of what somebody might call a dad joke, but he’s always used a lot of props in his comedy too, which is something you’ll see in the documentary - he’s not afraid to do something outrageous on stage to get a laugh.”
Despite appearing on top shows like The Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman, Mule Deer never became a household name. Wilk attributed that to his previous attachment to cocaine.
“Gary, like so many people in the entertainment and film, unfortunately developed a drug addiction that I think maybe caused him from going from that one level to quite the next,” she said. “But the thing that I think is really important is he’s still working in his 80s… he’s still on that stage. And I think a lot of comics would agree that he’s had quite a long career.”
Mule Deer also became addicted to the gambling game Keno while at a residency in Las Vegas. Wilk said he’s since moved to a healthier addiction: golf.
The documentary is screening Saturday, Aug. 26, at 7 p.m. at the Jim Santy Auditorium at the Park City Library. Wilk and the film’s director will host a Q&A after the movie. Tickets can be purchased at parkcityfilm.org
