During an interview in a Florida condominium for senior citizens, aging comedian Buddy Young, Jr. tells jokes about growing up in an immigrant Jewish family. In a recollection, he and his brother, Stan Yankelman, perform comedy for their relatives after dinner, and their mother, Rose, laughs the loudest. Years later, Buddy is known as “Mr. Saturday Night,” the star of the Coleman Comedy Hour, a 1950s national television show, and Stan is his manager-agent. Buddy’s mother, wife Elaine, and daughter Susan are in the dressing room, and though Susan wants to show him something funny, he brushes her aside to get to the stage. Buddy greets the crowd with his popular catchphrase, “Don’t get me started.” As he tells jokes about his wife, Elaine laughs in the dressing room and tells little Susan it is just humor. However, when Buddy’s put-downs turn to Susan, the little girl feels hurt. In the present day, Buddy completes the interview and prepares to perform for the afternoon geriatric crowd. Stan warns him not to be nasty, but Buddy insults everyone. Returning to New York City, Stan tells Buddy the vacation cruise line canceled his winter bookings because it is attracting a younger clientele that wants hipper comedians. Stan also confesses that he is retiring as Buddy’s manager and moving to Florida to paint and be close to his grandchildren. When Buddy accuses his brother of being a poor manager, Stan reminds him that losing the Coleman Comedy Hour and ruining his only appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show were his own doing. Stan booked him on the February 1964 show that also introduced the Beatles to America, and Buddy insulted a crowd of screaming girls. As Stan leaves, he looks back at his brother and recalls how their family enjoyed their after-dinner comedy routine, first as little boys and then as teenagers. When the brothers are booked on an amateur show in front of strangers, Stan gets stage fright, and his brother performs alone, but not as Abie Yankelman. He dubs himself “Buddy Young,” and Stan adds the “Junior” because it sounds funnier. When Buddy’s Yiddish jokes get a negative response, he insults an obese man in the audience, people laugh, and he realizes he found his comedic voice. In present day, Buddy goes home and finds his adult daughter, Susan, there. As they argue, Buddy reminds her of the times he got her out of trouble with police and boyfriends. Susan leaves, and Buddy goes into the bedroom, where Elaine awakens. Stroking her face, Buddy recalls the night they met at the popular Grossinger’s hotel resort in the Catskill Mountains. Seeing the young, pretty woman in the audience, he finished his act, goes backstage, and sends Stan to fetch her. Coincidentally, Stan has been sketching the same woman from the wings, and was planning to approach her himself. Using the ruse that he is an eligible doctor, Stan pulls Elaine Gimbel away from her family for a dance and immediately likes her, but when he confesses he is only a manager for Buddy Young, Jr., she wants to meet the star comedian. Buddy takes Elaine out for sandwiches, and walks her to a lakeside gazebo. He enjoys her sharp wit. They kiss, and get married. Their raucous wedding party becomes part of his act. When Buddy gets booked in Las Vegas, his career takes off, and he opens for Frank Sinatra at the Flamingo Hotel. In the present, Buddy visits top theatrical agent Phil Gussman to ask for representation, and Phil makes a lunch date at the Friars Club to discuss details. Instead of showing up himself, Phil sends a young shiksa from his agency named Annie Welles, who has no idea what the Friars Club is, or who the great Jewish comics were. When Buddy insults Annie, she walks out. Back on the road, Buddy emcees small-town beauty pageants, tells old jokes at Chinese restaurants, and sleeps in cheap hotels. He stops to see his comatose mother, Rose, in a nursing home and tells jokes, “just like in the living room,” although she cannot hear him. Buddy cries as he confesses in Yiddish that things are not going well. Buddy recalls how he ended his own television show in 1955. When his ratings dip temporarily because of Walt Disney’s popular Davy Crockett miniseries, Buddy hints in his monologue that the real Davy Crockett was a homosexual, and is promptly fired. Annie Welles visits Buddy to make peace, and he familiarizes her with his career. He begs her to get him in front of an audience. Annie books a job as a warm-up comic for a television quiz show, but Buddy insults the host on-air. She gets him a television commercial for adult leak-proof underwear, but he ruins his takes because he fears his audience will think he is incontinent. Stan arrives to inform him that their mother died. At the funeral, Buddy turns a eulogy into a warm, humorous routine about Jewish mothers that has the congregation laughing and shedding tears. He finishes by announcing that his greatest joy was making her laugh. Afterward, Stan, their mother’s executor, gives Buddy a check for $13,000. As Buddy and Stan walk in Central Park, they discuss their days apart, and Stan is happy he finally has time to paint. Buddy fears he never perfected his comedy act, and always wanted the Friars Club comics to envy him. Annie Welles gets Buddy an audition with a young director, Larry Meyerson, who has loved Buddy since he saw him as a boy. He wants Buddy to play a grandfather in his new movie. Stan is set to return to Florida, but Buddy convinces him to stay a few days and help with preparation. However, the audition goes poorly after Meyerson reveals that he gave the grandfather role to Walter Matthau, and wants Buddy to take a smaller part. Buddy insults Meyerson, and walks out. Outside, Stan accuses Buddy of being his own worst enemy, and Buddy counters that Stan has always been a coward. He was too afraid to go onstage at that long-ago amateur show, and never fought for Elaine, even though Stan always loved her. Buddy reveals that he only let Stan be his manager as a courtesy, so he could enjoy his success vicariously. Stan returns to Florida, and Buddy gives Susan the $13,000, claiming it is what her grandmother wanted. He returns to entertaining older crowds, and Elaine travels with him. In Florida, Stan shows up with a fresh painting of the two Yankelman brothers performing in front of the family, and Buddy sheds tears. Stan gives him a few comedy pointers, and Elaine joins them to discuss which jokes worked the best.