The Punchline

The Punchline is a short documentary about 3WISEMEN, a musical comedy double act formed by Tom Keenan and Bruce Williams. While the film follows their performances, rehearsals and everyday working lives, its deeper focus is on how comedy can become an outlet for grief, neurodivergence, vulnerability and perseverance.

I worked primarily as the editor while also taking on the roles of DIT and script supervisor. These roles became closely connected, as the way I organised, logged and protected the footage directly shaped the edit. The documentary was built from interviews, rehearsals, live performances and observational material, so much of the story had to be discovered in post-production.

The edit focused on balancing the duo’s comic energy with the more vulnerable material beneath it. Performance sequences such as “Banana” and “Musical” became central to the film’s structure, helping the documentary show how humour and grief can sit alongside each other without either feeling forced.