The actor stars as a temperamental talkshow host facing extinction and a script, written by star Mindy Kaling, that can’t quite keep up with her

Alongside film-making debuts from established actors and slow-burn word of mouth scary movies, Sundance is a festival primed for at least one crowd-pleasing comedy. In previous years, audiences and critics have roared along to Little Miss Sunshine, Happy, Texas, Juno, Patti Cake$, The Big Sick and Napoleon Dynamite. Not all of them have enjoyed such ebullience outside of Park City, though, and this year Transparent and Brooklyn Nine-Nine director Nisha Ganatra is hoping to sustain the laughter that met the premiere of her first feature, Late Night, all the way to the real world.

Related: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind review – Chiwetel Ejiofor's charming directorial debut...