Funny People Viral: George Simmons' 'Merman'

Judd Apatow and the “Funny People” crew Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann and the extended Apatow troupe (Elizabeth Banks, Justin Long, etc.) are into viral videos. We get it.

There’s already been panoply of fake meta-movie trailers for Sandler’s dying comedian George Sanders character (a bunch of them outlined here) and now another has arrived — the “Splash” like “MerMan” which co-stars Elizabeth Banks.

It’s not entirely gut-busting funny, but then again, none of the “Funny People,” viral clips have been out of the park. Hopefully the movie is much more significant and we’re betting it is. Maybe Universal is using all these fairly silly gags to try and hide the fact that the film is actually fairly dramatic and melancholy. Or at least, that’s our wish, because we hope Apatow comes at us with his best James L. Brook bittersweet tone.

We’ll see. We’re still excited even if we find Raaaaaaandy fairly predictable and unfunny. “Funny People” hits July 31, but we’ll be seeing it early on July 22 during a Museum of the Moving Image special presentation in Queens, New York Manhattan which is open to the public. The price is bit steep, but Apatow will be there in person for a Q&A. Get your tix while they’re hot. We have ours. Here’s that “Merman” trailer. [George Simmons.com]

Update: We also found a Adam Sandler stand-up featurette over at Trailer Addict and that’s emebeded below too.