Sheena Patel, British writer, poet and assistant director for film and television, introduced the screening of a classic film during an interview with Sophie Jansen: The King of Comedy, Martin Scorsese's satirical black comedy from 1983, full of strong, dry humour, starring Robert de Niro, Jerry Lewis and Sandra Bernhard.

Rupert Pupkin, a third-rate comedian, wants to perform in a show by his idol and great example Jerry Langford. “You've got to start at the bottom,” is the advice given by the King of Comedy to the ambitious Pupkin, who tragically only makes people laugh when he is serious. In order to gain access to Langford's show, the rejected Pupkin (‘Better to be king for a night than a schmuck for a lifetime’) resorts to drastic measures.

The King of Comedy is now regarded as a prescient commentary on celebrity culture. De Niro, who plays one of the best roles of his career, had been trying to persuade Scorsese to film Paul Zinneman's script since 1976.

After Raging Bull, Scorsese felt that he had reached a turning point in his career and that the time was ripe for this film: ‘I realised that I had to wipe the slate clean as a filmmaker and start all over again. I literally started relearning how to make films. That's what The King of Comedy helped me to do.’

Sheena Patel is a writer, poet, and assistant director for film and television. Her debut novel, I'm A Fan (2022), won the Discover Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. “I stalk a woman on the internet who sleeps with the same man as me.” When it turns out that he has several mistresses, including an insufferable influencer, she develops an obsession not only with the man, but also with his popular mistress. The narrator keeps a close eye on the Instagrammer's social media and her friends minute by minute. The Guardian: “A fizzing debut that's hard to put down. Patel's searing novel skitters through a world of toxic exes, mean girls, and bad jobs—and it's addictive.”

Sheena Patel was a guest at the Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague 2026. In addition to this introduction interview, she  also appeared on Thursday 22 January 2026 for a (freely accessible) discussion about her book in the Speakers' Corner in the Atrium of The Hague University of Applied Sciences (starting at 4 p.m.) and as a participant in programmes on the grand festival evenings Friday Night Unlimited (23 January) and Saturday Night Unlimited (24 January) at Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag.

Sophie Jansen is Head of Programming at Filmhuis Den Haag. Her love of film began with Titanic, gained momentum with Keira Knightley costume dramas, and was sealed after discovering the work of Sofia Coppola, about whose authorship she wrote her first thesis. Her master's thesis was about patriarchal structures in high school films, a subgenre that remains a favourite. Feminist films, coming-of-age films, music films and films about fashion are her specialisations.