Robert De Niro had been trying to make this movie for eight years.
Danny DeVito's real-life daughter Lucy DeVito plays his daughter in the movie.
Robert De Niro was trained by comedian Jessica Kirson, and adopted one of her signature "moves": talking to herself sotto voce while turned away from the audience. He didn't take the move quite as far, preferring to cover his face with his hand while turning slightly to one side. Kirson appears in the film longer than any other stand-up comic, but she is not shown using this technique.
When Sean Penn was on-board to direct the movie, Kristen Wiig was cast in the lead role. She was later replaced by Jennifer Aniston. However, Aniston later dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, and Leslie Mann was cast.
This is the first movie in which Robert De Niro and Danny DeVito appeared.