Most of us go through life thinking we have lots of time to accomplish the things we want in life. Steve Mazan wanted to do standup comedy since he was a child. Finally, after some years in normal jobs, he gave it a shot. He slowly began to climb the various rungs of the comedy ladder. His goal was to be picked to do his comedy on The Late Show with David Letterman. But then he was diagnosed with incurable liver cancer. Dying to Do Letterman is his story of how he continued to chase his dream.

How people respond to a diagnosis of cancer can vary widely. Many would reassess their lives and dreams. Some dreams may be dropped as unreachable or less important. In Steve's case, the cancer has no treatment available. It is not fast-spreading. The worst-case prognosis was five years. That sense of a time limit gave his dream a new perspective. He gives himself one year to make it to The Late Show. He enlists friends who set up a website. He encourages audiences at his shows to visit the website and send email to The Late Show. He meets with some successful comedians who have been on Letterman and gets their advice. Time continues be to eaten away. There are breaks and there are trials.

His cancer is really only a background to his dream of making it to Letterman. If we didn't know about his cancer, this would still be an interesting film about the craft of standup comedy. Getting on Letterman is a difficult process. Those he talks to who have been on the show tell of it taking two years, five years, eleven years to be picked for one of the rare standup slots. He will not get there because he has cancer. He will only get there if he is truly good enough.

This is a very personal work. The filmmakers, Joke Fincioen and Biagio Messina, are friends who called Steve when they heard of the diagnosis and asked if there was something they could do. They cover his life over the next few years as he hones his routine through the ups and downs of the process. They didn't want to do a cancer movie—they wanted to do a film about dedication, and that is what they have given us.

Since his goal was to make The Late Show, Steve presents a couple of fun Top 10 lists. The first is "The Top 10 Benefits of Being Diagnosed with Cancer." The second, at the end of the film, is "The Top 10 Reasons to Pursue Your Dream." People who have faced cancer will likely find some good chuckles in the first list. The second list though is the one that has real meaning—not just for cancer patients or their families, but for everyone who has a dream they hope to achieve. There is far more to chasing a dream than achieving your goal. The journey may be the truly important aspect of chasing that dream. The journey we share with Steve, his wife, and his friends may lead us all to our own dreams.