Those familiar with stand-up comedy know Bert Kreischer as a hard-partying, tall tale-telling, and often shirtless comic who’s good friends with Bill Burr and Tom Segura. He’s loud, rowdy, and otherwise known as “The Machine,” a nickname which may be Kreischer’s most infamous bit.
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But now it’s time for that bit to become a whole new thing: a raucous meta action-comedy that co-stars Kreischer and Mark Hamill. That’s right, “The Machine” brings Kreischer’s Russian train story to life in a high-octane way, with the comedian playing a fictional version of himself who must return to Russia decades after he earned his pseudonym.
Here’s the film’s official synopsis:
Set 23 years after the original story which inspired it, The Machine finds Bert facing familial crisis and the arrival of his estranged father when the ghost of his booze-soaked past arrives: a murderous mobster hellbent on kidnapping Bert back to the motherland to atone for his crimes. Together, he and his father must retrace the steps of his younger self in the midst of a war between a sociopathic crime family while they attempt to find common ground.
Alongside Kreischer and Hamill, “The Machine” also stars Jimmy Tatro as a younger Bert, Iva Babić, Robert Maaser, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jessica Gabor, and Rita Bernard Shaw. Nikola Đuričko, Oleg Taktarov, Amelie Villers, and Mercedes de la Cruz round out the main cast.
Peter Atencio directs “The Machine,” while Kevin Biegel and Scotty Landes co-write the film’s screenplay. Kreischer co-produces the film with Cale Boyter, Judi Marmel, Peter Atencio, and LeeAnn Kreischer.
Discover the entire story of why Kreischer calls himself “The Machine” on Memorial Day Weekend when the film hits theaters on May 26. Watch a red-band trailer for “The Machine” below.
