Reviews - Dave Chappelle's Block Party, Invite Them Up CD, Jim Gaffigan's Beyond the Pale

DVDs
Chondra Pierce - A
Piece of My Mind

Live Comedy from the
Laff House: Make
Room for Comedy

Redneck Comedy
Roundup 2 - Bill
Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy
and Ron Shock.

Southern Gents of
Comedy - Ron White,
Vic Henley, Steve
McGrew and Otis Lee
Crenshaw

Laffapalooza #6 -
Jamie Foxx, JB
Smoove, Gerald Kelly
and Wil Sylvince

Laffapalooza #7 - Rob
Stapleton, Loni Love,
Jo Koy and James
Hannah

Laffapalooza #8 -
Rodney Perry, Tony
Roberts, Earthquake

Paul Mooney -
Analyzing White
America

Russell Peters - Two
Concerts...On Ticket

Dave Attell - Insomiac
Tour Uncensored -
Dave Attell, Dane
Cook, Greg Giraldo and
Sean Rouse

Mike Epps -
Inappropriate Behavior

Jeff Cesario - You Can
Get a Hooker
Tomorrow Night

Kims of Comedy -
Steve Byrne, Bobby
Lee, Kevin Shea and
Dr. Ken

Alonzo Bodden - Tall,
Dark & Funny

Jim Gaffigan - Beyond
the Pale

CDs
Don Rickles - Speaks

Jackie Mason - The
World According to Me

Jake Johannsen - Jake
This Dot Com

Brad Montague -
Double Live

Eric Schwartz - Wimp
Pimp

Kathleen Madigan - In
Other Words

Drew Hastings - I'm
Just Like You

Jesse Joyce - Joyce to
the World

Marc Maron - Not Sold
Out

Mike Birbiglia - Two
Drink Mike

Tom Rhodes - Hot
Sweet Ass

Jimmy Shubert -
Pandemonium

Ron White - You Can't
Fix Stupid

Books
Oliver Double - Getting
the Joke: The Inner
Workings of Stand-Up
Comedy

Ed Driscoll - Spilled
Gravy: Advice on Love,
Life, and Acceptance
from a Man Uniquely
Unqualified to Give It

Brad Stine - Live From
Middle America: Rants
from a Red-State
Comedian

Sandi C. Shore - Sandi
Shore's Secrets to
Stand-Up Success: A
Complete Step-by-Step
Workbook

Judy Brown - The
Comedy Thesaurus

Movies
March 24
Health Inspector -
Larry the Cable Guy
and Bruce Bruce star in
the comedy with
support from Lisa
Lampanelli.

April 7
The Benchwarmers -
David Spade stars with
screenwriter/comedian,
Nick Swardson, Craig
Kilborn, Norm
MacDonald and Adam
Sandler in a comedy
about a three-player
baseball team that
challenges Little
League teams.

Phat Girlz - Mo'Nique
and Godfrey star in the
comedy about love and
acceptance.

April 14
Scary Movie 4 - DeRay
Davis co-stars in the
spoof comedy with
Anna Farris and Regina
Hall.

The Wild - Eddie Izzard
lends his voice in the
animated feature.

May 19
Over the Hedge - Garry
Shandling, Wanda
Sykes and Omid Djalili
lend their voices in the
animated movie
starring Bruce Willis,
who replaces Jim
Carrey as the lead
character.

May 26
Little Men - Keenan
Ivory Wayans directs
his younger brothers,
Shawn and Marlon
Wayans in a comedy
that co-stars Tracy
Morgan, Gary Owen
and John Witherspoon.

June 16
Wordplay - Jon Stewart
shares his passion for
crossword puzzles in
this documentary
featuring Bill Clinton,
Bob Dole and Ken
Burns.

June 23
Click - Adam Sandler
stars in the comedy
about a man who finds
a universal remote.

Dave Chappelle’s Block Party is an
amazing new concert film that
captures the energy of classic films
like Monterey Pop and Wattstax. The
mix of music, documentary, and
comedy makes it a lively film for
fans of all three genres.

The big draw in Dave Chappelle. You
might come for him, but you will
stay for everything else this enjoy-
able film has to offer. The movie is
not flashy; it's basically a straight up
concert video with human interest
things thrown in, but, it's the mix of
music, comedy, and good nature
that makes the film a winner.

I will throw out this caveat: If you
are not a fan of backpack rap or
neo-soul, pass on this. The acts
include The Roots, Mos Def, Jill
Scott, Common, Erykah Badu, etc.
The film is almost 50 percent
concert footage. However, if you are
a fan, you will be impressed.

As usual, The Roots are the coolest and most talented guys in the room. The Fugees
reunite, but they sound terrible and Lauryn is still in crazy mode. But, it was good to
see the three of them back on stage. However, ?estlove, Mos Def, and Common make
strong impressions. The music sounds great and whenever the energy seems to lag,
Dave comes out and gets the crowd back to their highest levels.

Now, the human interest/comedy segments are the strongest sections of the film. Two
young men that get tickets in Dayton, OH to the concert will steal your heart. They are
funny, cute, smart, and just adorable. Hopefully, they're single because they will be
getting a lot of lady fans. Many of the people Dave meets during the day to day of his
life are genuine and seem to be nice people.

The movie shows that people from the “heartland” or the ‘hood are genuine, funny,
and kind people. They love Dave and he loves them. Dave also meets some adorable
children in a daycare center and invites Central State University's marching band to the
show. CSU has had a lot of financial and political trouble as a historically black college.
They have worked very hard to raise enrollment and secure their financial situation.
Their exposure in this film should change it.

Dave and Mos Def do some hilarious Vegas style comedy. The jokes are one-liners with
a “yo’ mama” twist. The last one he tells is both dirty and corny and will make you
laugh from the sheer audacity of the joke. Dave hangs out with a wide variety of
characters. The “regular” people and music stars all seem comfortable with him. It’s a
credit to Dave that he can hang with both groups of people and never seem fake or
phony.

And, director Michel Gondry, knows when to just let people talk and never makes
himself the star. His hand is not obvious in the way it is in his feature films (Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Human Nature), but he gets the life of the event on film.
You can feel the electricity of the performers and the joy of the audience. Dave brings
his enthusiasm to a crowd of very wet and uncomfortable people. You forget the bad
weather and so do they.

Gondry makes sure to capture the energy and heart that went into the show. So, check
it out. It will make you love Dave all over again.

Comedian-actor Jim Gaffigan strikes gold with his
hit DVD and Comedy Central stand-up special,
Beyond the Pale. The 15-year comedy veteran,
whose guest star appearances and reoccurring
roles on TV shows such as That 70s Show, Ed, Law
& Order and Sex & The City, recorded over 71
minutes of hilarious stand up at the historic Vic
Theater in Chicago.

Beyond the Pale, which at press time was ranked
#12 on Amazon’s top selling DVDs, is a
continuation of Gaffigan’s laugh-out-loud funny
and often poignant observations on food and
religion that were featured on his previous CDs,
Doing My Time and The Last Supper.

Gaffigan’s relaxed, easy-going stage presence combined with his animated act-outs is
a winning combination that produces frequent outbursts of laughter from the audience
during both the set up and punchline. Most of his set covers various sub-topics on
food: fast food, delivery, dessert, steak and Hot Pockets.

“You know you’re a pig when you eat something that taste horrible but you don’t notice
until the last bite,” he says pointing out America’s love for food. Gaffigan effectively
sets up the joke, delivers the punchline and generates additional laughs with audience
reaction act-outs.

“Steak is like the tuxedo of meat and bologna is like the retarded cousin. Cause if
you’re eating steak, something special is happening. If you’re eating bologna, you
might be special.” (Audience reaction act-out) “Hey, I like bologna, jerk head. Your act
is bologna. Your bologna has a last name and it’s Gaffigan.”

The Indiana native, who regularly appears on late night shows such as Letterman and
Conan O’Brien, sends the audience into a frenzy when he performs his most popular bit
on Hot Pockets.

“I was looking at a box of Hot Pockets and they have a warning printed on the side.
Warning: You just bought Hot Pockets. Hope you’re drunk or heading home to a trailer.”
Gaffigan compares the different Hot Pocket sandwiches: “There’s the Vegetarian Hot
Pocket for those of us who don’t like meat but would still like diarrhea…There’s the
Lean Pocket…I don’t even want to know what’s in there. Imagine the directions: Take
out of box. Place directly in the toilet. Flush toilet.”

Other standout bits include Gaffigan’s observations on Cinnabon, spray cheese and he
concludes with religious material that raises the question, “Do you think Jesus was a
good carpenter?” The DVD contains over 40 minutes of bonus features, which include
Gaffigan’s first stand-up performance in 1991, a delightful rarity. Within a couple of
minutes, one can see right away that Gaffigan has the makings of a comedy star.

Last year, an American study found that laughing for 10 to 15 minutes can burn up to
40 calories. Jim Gaffigan’s Beyond the Pale is entertaining, fun and a gut-busting good
time from start to finish. I can’t think of a more enjoyable way to spend an hour
burning off Sunday dinner…or a Hot Pocket.

Originally I had set aside three evenings of
this past week to listen to the box set Invite
Them Up. I ended up chuckling through the
three audio CDs along with the DVD
accompaniment in one night.

The album, which was recorded at the Rififi
comedy club in the east village, is raunchy,
silly, and often too obscene for description in
print. It accurately reflects the feeling of
actually being at the live show. The club is tiny,
but maintains a solid group of followers, and a
number of the most exciting young comedians
in New York perform there weekly.

While some of the acts seemed a bit phoned in, I still laughed my ass off; the relaxed
atmosphere of the shows adds to the silliness of the routines.

Noteworthy performances: Michael Schowalter and Zak Orth introduce their new comedy
team The Doilies. With Orth on guitar, Schowalter discusses his burgeoning career as
an adventure journalist, regaling us with his version of a Jon Krakauer novella. David
Wain went acoustic as well with a tune inspired by an elderly Argentinean woman whom,
as he proclaims at the beginning of his set, “I did not Fuck!” Demetri Martin also had
his guitar handy, and by the way, is just starting off a promising stint as a
correspondent on the Daily Show.

The high point of the show is a young comic named Mike Birbiglia. Mike is one of the
fastest rising stars in the comedy world, starring in his own HBO special and appearing
numerous times on Letterman and Leno. Though he hasn’t quite reached the fame of
some of the other names on the bill, his set was definitely my favorite followed by the
impromptu comedy team of David Cross and John Benjamin.

I must also mention the comedy team called The Forgetabuddies. They claim they’re
from San Diego but have overt Brooklyn accents. They performed almost no material,
harassed a German audience member about being a Nazi, said “Fogetta-boutit” three
hundred times in their half hour set, and were very, very funny. Luckily, their
performance is on the DVD, as it wouldn’t work as just audio.

Overall the album is lots of fun. I suggest watching the DVD first, as you can watch
some of the performances only available as audio on the CDs.