You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution...

This documentary chronicles the improbable legacy of a 1972 Toronto stage production of the hippie musical Godspell, which ran at the Royal Alexandra Theatre beginning June 1, 1972. The cast, assembled from relative unknowns, included Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, Jayne Eastwood, and Victor Garber (playing Jesus), with Paul Shaffer serving as musical director. Directed by Nick Davis and written by Davis and Jane Mendelsohn, the film traces how that single production functioned as an unlikely incubator for a generation of comedy talent that would go on to transform North American entertainment through Saturday Night Live, SCTV, Schitt's Creek, Only Murders in the Building, and beyond. Because no original production footage survives, the film uses animated sequences to reconstruct the 1972 show alongside present-day interviews with surviving cast members. Personal anecdotes surface throughout — including Eugene Levy's refusal to wax his chest for his role — and the film explores how the cast bonded into a chosen family, with members marrying into each other's lives in the years that followed. Archival footage of Gilda Radner and John Candy appears alongside new interviews with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mike Myers, and Judd Apatow (who also executive produced). The documentary also gives space to actress Avril Chown to discuss abuse she experienced following the production, adding a sobering dimension to an otherwise high-spirited celebration. Critics described the film's tone as capturing something that 'spread like the world's happiest virus' through comedy culture, framing the Toronto Godspell as a pivotal and underrecognized moment in entertainment history.

Sources: Wikipedia, IMDb (news/review articles), Collider