15 Moviegoing Questions With Alison Leiby, Comedian

Favorite movie theater: Nitehawk Prospect Park.

Name: Alison Leiby
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Occupation: Comedian/Writer
Links: Alison’s Substack:

Read Alison’s new book I’m a Lot:

1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?

I love a Sunday late afternoon movie. My friend Kris and I have seen a few in that time slot in our neighborhood and it’s perfect because you can leave the theater and either go get a drink or dinner and still be on your couch by 9pm, which on a Sunday is really a dream.

2. What’s your favorite movie theater?

I see the most movies at the Nitehawk in Park Slope. Every Oscars season they do a screening of the live action and animated short nominees, which I try to see because they’re otherwise kind of inaccessible. I like that I can get a Paloma or a glass of wine while I watch, though I’m not the biggest fan of eating anything more complicated than some fries during a movie. I’m also a huge fan of the way they program the pre-movie. When I see a movie at a big chain theater, it’s all huge commercials (which I understand, gotta keep the lights on!). But Nitehawk finds vintage ads and programming that connects to the movie they are screening. When I saw Iron Claw it was tons of 80s wrestling commercials and super fun to get you excited (to cry, lol).

Nitehawk Cinema, Prospect Park, NY (photo credit)

3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?

I have a situation I get to easily recreate at a lot of theaters, which I call The Cinema Quartet, which I perfected with my friend Kara at a late Tuesday night viewing of the Ab Fab movie in West Hollywood years ago when the only other people in the theater were Bruce Villanch and two companions: I like to get a Diet Coke, a red wine, popcorn, and raisinets. It’s the most perfect combo of salty and sweet, fizzy and dry, crunchy and soft.

4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?

Eating in the dark is so hard that even if noise and smell weren’t factors, I still struggle to think of what I would want that isn’t already available. I think if anything, I would like a candy sampler. If I could have a little tray with like, two mini Butterfingers, a little thing or raisinets, another little thing of peanut butter M&Ms, and then a few sour watermelons, that would really be it. I’m a big grazer, so to not be locked into a whole box of one candy is kind of my dream.

5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?

I don’t actually remember this, but my mom often reminds me of when she took me to a screening of Snow White when I was a toddler. When the movie ended I didn’t want to leave and I basically threw myself on the MOVIE THEATER FLOOR in a tantrum to try and stay. Hygienically, it haunts me to this day. But existentially, that is how I feel when any movie ends.

6. Last movie you saw in a theater?

The last movie I saw in a theater was The Drama, and I saw it at Nitehawk with my friend Kris on a Sunday afternoon. There’s something so funny about watching young people engage with culture to us, in a good way! Watching people 20 years younger than us roll into a movie wearing the same things we wore 20 years ago just makes us giggle. An A+ moviegoing experience.

7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?

I think The Sixth Sense or The Prestige, neither of which I saw in theaters (saw both at home). I’ve never been in a crowded theater watching a movie with a huge twist and I’m sure it would be way more exciting to experience than sitting on my couch gasping alone.

The Sixth Sense dir. M. Night Shyamalan (Buena Vista Pictures)

8. Have you ever seen a movie more than once in theaters?

While I have seen lots of movies more than once, I don’t think I’ve gone back to a theater a second time. I really enjoy rewatching things at home (and I do a lot of rewatching).

9. Do you stay through the credits or leave as soon as the film ends?

It really depends on the movie and the viewing experience. In a super crowded theater, I feel the urge to get up and out because everyone is moving around and I get stressed out.

But sometimes, if it’s a quieter showing, I find myself sitting with my friend and chatting over the credits until someone has to tell us to leave.

10. What’s one thing you would change to make movie theaters better?

When I watch a movie at home, I do it on the couch and I get the luxury of my cat, Rizz, being flopped next to me or half on my lap and half on the couch. Bringing Rizz to the movies would be ideal, except that any time I have to get him out of the apartment it’s deeply traumatizing for both of us, so in reality this would be a nightmare. But in a perfect world, it would make the movies so much better (for me at least).

11. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.

Okay, my friend and I reminisce about this moviegoing experience like, at least once a month. When Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight came out, my friend Sarah and I were living on the Upper West Side and went to the 84th Street AMC theater on the first weekend it was out. The line was around the block, the theater was packed. We were looking for seats together and saw a row on the side that was an empty seat, a couple, an empty seat, and then another couple. We (very reasonably) asked if those seats were free and if so, if they would mind moving over in either direction so that they could sit together. The man said, “Hold on, we’re going to discuss.” Then he and the woman he was with whispered to each other for a moment while we just stood in the aisle, truly shocked. When they finished discussing the man said to us, “There is a seat here, and there is a seat here,” pointing to the two free seats on either side of them. My friends and I couldn’t believe it, they wouldn’t move! We just kept moving up to find seats together, which we did. The movie viewing itself wasn’t that memorable except for the person behind us making a deafening crinkle noise every time they reached into a bag for candy, but it didn’t even annoy us, it just made us laugh because seemingly everyone in the theater forgot how to be a human that afternoon.

The Dark Knight dir. Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros.)

12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?

I’m exercising a lot of very cautious optimism and saying the sequel to Practical Magic. The original is a perfect movie. Drama! Comedy! Witches! Stevie Nicks songs! Velvet and bias cut silk! Most of the reboots and sequels of 90s movies haven’t been a huge success, but I’m holding out for a perfect midnight margaritas scene.

13. What’s your dream combination of director and lead(s)?

I’m not as much a film buff as I am a television obsessive, so I don’t know that I have a dream combo that I can come up with. I would love to see a director who still shoots with film grain and rich color and texture instead of the washed out commercial looking style that seems to dominate today’s movies. And I would love that director to work with actors who haven’t spent more time at a med spa than a set. So I guess anyone who isn’t full of filler and can still emote with their face.

14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?

As a New York resident, it’s hard not to just say When Harry Met Sally because it’s just an idealized version of the life I live and love. Tweed blazers and affordable apartments, it’s the dream!

When Harry Met Sally dir. Rob Reiner (Columbia)

15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?

Movies are made to be seen in theaters! We should be engaging with art in the medium it was created for. It’s the same reason that TV shows shouldn’t be watched on laptops and phones and paintings should be viewed in person, not just Google Images.