The story draws from Fosse's experience editing his 1974 film Lenny while simultaneously staging the Broadway musical Chicago, which he directed, choreographed and co-wrote.

Like Fosse, Scheider's character attempts to stage an ambitious Broadway musical while supervising the editing of a film he directed and which, like Lenny, centers around a stand-up comedian.

[4][5][6] Joe Gideon is a theater director and choreographer attempting to balance staging his latest Broadway musical, NY/LA, while editing a Hollywood film he has directed, The Stand-Up.

One of the few moments of joy in his life occurs when Katie and Michelle perform a Fosse-style number for Joe as an homage to the upcoming release of The Stand-Up, moving him to tears.

Joe brushes off his symptoms, attempting to leave for rehearsal, but he collapses in the doctor's office and is ordered to stay in the hospital for several weeks to rest his heart and recover from exhaustion.

Alongside his friend Robert Alan Aurthur, they set out to make a film adaption of Ending by Hilma Wolitzer which had similar themes of death and marital problems.

[12] The story's structure closely mirrors Fosse's own health issues at the time and is often compared to Federico Fellini's 8½, another thinly veiled autobiographical film with fantastical elements.

Gideon's rough handling of chorus girl Victoria Porter closely resembles Bob Fosse's own treatment of Jennifer Nairn-Smith during rehearsals for Pippin.

Ann Reinking was one of Fosse's sexual partners at the time and was more or less playing herself in the film, but nonetheless she was required to audition for the role as Gideon's girlfriend, Kate Jagger.

[18] With increasing production costs and a loss of enthusiasm for the film, Columbia brought in Fox to finance completion, and the latter studio acquired domestic distribution rights in return.

The website's consensus reads: "Director Bob Fosse and star Roy Scheider are at the top of their games in this dazzling, self-aware stage drama about a death-obsessed director-choreographer.

[21] In his review in The New York Times, Vincent Canby called the film "an uproarious display of brilliance, nerve, dance, maudlin confessions, inside jokes and, especially, ego" and "an essentially funny movie that seeks to operate on too many levels at the same time... some of it makes you wince, but a lot of it is great fun... A key to the success of the production is the performance of Roy Scheider as Joe Gideon... With an actor of less weight and intensity, All That Jazz might have evaporated as we watched it.

"[22] Variety described it as "a self-important, egomaniacal, wonderfully choreographed, often compelling film" and added, "Roy Scheider gives a superb performance as Gideon, creating a character filled with nervous energy...

"[23] Gene Siskel praised the film on Sneak Previews finding it fresh and entertaining describing it as "an obituary of a creative man who's afraid his work just might be trivial."

His colleague Roger Ebert however, initially gave the film a mixed review when he first saw it, praising Fosse's choreography though criticizing the story finding it discombobulated and self-indulgent.

"[15] Time Out London states, "As translated onto screen, [Fosse's] story is wretched: the jokes are relentlessly crass and objectionable; the song 'n' dance routines have been created in the cutting-room and have lost any sense of fun; Fellini-esque moments add little but pretension; and scenes of a real open-heart operation, alternating with footage of a symbolic Angel of Death in veil and white gloves, fail even in terms of the surreal.

[35] During the episode, there is a montage in which Jimmy's (Bob Odenkirk) routine is revealed: Grabbing his coffee, defending clients, collecting his check, and his ongoing battle with the parking attendant, Mike (Jonathan Banks).

Season 3 Episode 5 of GLOW, "Freaky Tuesday", opens with the same Vivaldi concerto music while the character Tammé is shown struggling, with the help of pills and wine and hot showers, to wake up every morning and tamp down her back pain while continuing to perform as a wrestler each night.