SuperMensch: the Legend of Shep Gordon

This is one of those satisfying documentaries that takes a figure most viewers have probably never heard of and builds a persuasive case as to why they are really important, backed with entertaining testimonies from significantly more famous people. In this instance the subject is Shep Gordon, who is best known for being Alice Cooper's manager for over 40 years. Co-director (and on-screen interviewee) Mike Myers explains how Gordon also managed many other artists, including folk singer Anne Murray, soul star Teddy Pendergrass and various celebrity chefs, such as Wolfgang Puck. According to SuperMensch, Gordon basically invented the idea of celebrity chefs as well as doing all sorts of other interesting things, like crusading for fairer pay for black artists, taking drugs with Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, and sleeping with oodles of women, including Sharon Stone - who, tellingly, like most of Gordon's other exes, isn't interviewed here. Maybe he wasn't always that nice a guy in real life, but he charms Myers, the camera and viewer throughout this lively account.