Comedy DVD: Dane Cook – Vicious Circle (2006)

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Dane Cook - Vicious Circle

Dane Cook receives a rock star’s welcome from a packed arena in this stand-up concert originally broadcast on HBO.

But the jury may still be out on whether Cook is phenomenally funny or simply a phenomenon.

He is certainly a master of the new media. Cook has deftly marketed himself on the Internet to his target college-age audience, and they have embraced him as a fellow “bro” and “dude,” who would seemingly be awesome to party with. In his timbre and physicality, he has the shaggy, likeable quality of Will Farrell, another frat boy favorite.

Cook is a man of his people. At one point, he is interrupted by a drunken Boston Red Sox fan who wants to shake his hand. Cook then leaps off the stage and chases him up the aisle to give him a send-off hug, all the while being clapped on the back and offered high and low fives by the cheering audience.

Cook comes complete with arrested development lingo, such as “Here’s what drove me banana sandwich,” that will no doubt b (more…)

About the Author/Founder of The Stand-up Comedy Professional

Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and author of the content made available in the Comedy Pro Membership Program available on this site.

Over the past decade, Steve has established himself as a leading, globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development, delivery and entertainment business strategies for comedy entertainers as well as speaking professionals.

For more information about Steve, please check out the About The Author section on this site.

Comedy Star Robin Williams – Live on Broadway

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robin-williams-liveWhere Robin Williams Live truly earns 5 STARS is in Williams’s Broadway performance itself.

Williams’ energy is unparalleled in his stand-up work and is NOTHING like his theatrical roles (from Flubber to Insomnia), which only seem to stifle the madman lurking beneath.

Sharper and deeper than Robin Williams’ previous road material, Live on Broadway is a mature comedian’s view of all things to do with power, prejudice, and paranoia in the 21st century.

As one could imagine, Williams is the usual ball of energy with great impressions, rapid-fire jokes, and is definitely funny. And to no surprise, there is a considerable amount of foul his language is in this performance.

A viewer may have to bear with Williams’ tedious breast fetishism, but patience is quickly rewarded with bitchy takes on Martha Stewart facing prison, solid satire about French existentialist judges at the Olympics, and subversive op-eds about the Bush administration’s inability to clarify terrorist threats to the public.

This particular performance is delivered live on Broadway (the culmination of a 20+ city national tour, and marking the conclusion of his triumphant, and much-heralded return to the stage in over 16 years).

As far a comedy material goes overall, I feel there is no one better, with Williams delivery of quips, jokes, and punchlines only rivaled by George Carlin, and the shows of Eddie Murphy from the early to mid 1980s.

Whether it’s parading around on stage in a frenzy or breaking out into one of many possible impressions/accents, it simply does not get any better than Robin Williams Live when it comes to gut-wrenching laughs. (more…)

About the Author/Founder of The Stand-up Comedy Professional

Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and author of the content made available in the Comedy Pro Membership Program available on this site.

Over the past decade, Steve has established himself as a leading, globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development, delivery and entertainment business strategies for comedy entertainers as well as speaking professionals.

For more information about Steve, please check out the About The Author section on this site.

Comedy Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham: Arguing With Myself (DVD)

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Jeff Dunham - Arguing With Myself

Breathing life into an elderly curmudgeon, a purple human-like creature from the Micronesian islands, and a self-effacing talking jalapeno on a stick, Jeff Dunham is straight man to some of the funniest partners in show business!

His comedic skill and impeccable technique serve as slight of hand however, drawing attention away from the fact that Dunham is a ventriloquist extraordinaire.

Arguing With Myself, a recorded live performance of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, portrays a comedian whose revival of an old-fashioned art has made ventriloquism more relevant to modern societal concerns.

Starring his six main characters, from Bubba Jay, a Nascar-obsessed hick, to Peanut, a flamboyant gay monkey, Dunham’s puppets have dirty but relatively inoffensive senses of humor that mock the American Dream.

One can easily see why Jay Leno champions Dunham, as his skits contain a similar sly sarcasm disguised as wholesome teasing aimed at men indebted to their ugly wives, for example, or people who live their lives working in cubicles. At times, though, Dunham’s humor seems to lose its ironic distance, especially as he interacts with puppets like Jose Jalapeño, a Cuban chile pepper, or Sweet Daddy D, a Black pimp, both reliant on the antiquated humor once popularized in cartoons by racial caricature.

It’s Jeff Dunham along with his outspoken and often edgy characters: Walter, Peanut, Jose Jalapeno (“…on a steeek!”), Bubba J, and Sweet Daddy Dee in their full, uncut, and uncensored live stage show that will leave you on the floor laughing like no other!

Since the entire audience in the film is white, it is difficult to assess whether or not African-Americans or Latinos would find Dunham funny.

In other words, Dunham’s humor isn’t overtly offensive enough to make fun of ethnic heritage. However, his skills as a ventriloquist alone make him a fascinating entertainer, and anyone interested in how puppetry and ventriloquism has progressed over the decades would benefit from watching Dunham bring life to his wooden friends. –Trinie Dalton

Buy Jeff Dunham – Arguing With Myself (2005) at Amazon

About the Author/Founder of The Stand-up Comedy Professional

Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and author of the content made available in the Comedy Pro Membership Program available on this site.

Over the past decade, Steve has established himself as a leading, globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development, delivery and entertainment business strategies for comedy entertainers as well as speaking professionals.

For more information about Steve, please check out the About The Author section on this site.