DVD REVIEW: The Best of Comedy Central Presents Uncensored

By Brendon Lindsey
Tags: Brian Regan, Carlos Mencia, comedy, Comedy Central, Dane Cook, Demetri Martin, Jeff Dunham, Jim Gaffigan, Lewis Black, Mitch Hedberg, review, stand-up

The Best of Comedy Central Presents Uncensored
MPAA Rating: Not Rated, intended for mature audiences
Release Date: February 5, 2008
Run Time: 176 minutes

For years I’ve had to download bits and pieces of Comedy Central Presents stand-up to ensure my friends could see my favorite comedians. Many never got their own DVD release, and waiting for their special to repeat on a Friday or Saturday night is iffy at best. When I heard that Comedy Central was putting out a DVD with the best of Comedy Central Presents (and that it was uncensored) my interest went through the roof.

Fast forward to yesterday, when the DVD arrived in my mailbox. For fans of stand-up, the cover alone is enough to wet your appetite. “Featuring: Lewis Black, Dane Cook, Jeff Dunham, Jim Gaffigan, Mitch Hedberg, Demetri Martin, Carlos Mencia, Brian Regan.” That’s an all-star comedy lineup, people. (Except for Mencia.)

When it comes to people with multiple Presents appearances, what you get on this DVD is their first, virgin showing on Comedy Central. That means that for people like Martin and Regan, you aren’t getting their latest special. (You can, however, buy them on DVD for only $15.99!)

For those unfamiliar with stand-up comedy, the range selected for this disc is pretty varied. Dane Cook (who most of America knows by now) obviously had the most success after his stand-up appearances, starring in a lot of recent critical flops. He brings the whole rock star attitude to stand-up, and despite my dislike of his acting, I have to admit that his early stand-up is hilarious stuff.

Lewis Black has had his share of success as well, being a regular feature on The Daily Show. He’s the stereotypical shouting Jew comic, and you’ll swear by the time his special ends that he should have long fainted from hyperventilation. Still, “If it wasn’t for my horse, I wouldn’t have spent that year in college” never gets old.

Jeff Dunham is the most recent Comedy Central darling. His ventrilocomedy has made him stand out amongst other recent performers, and his terrorist bit has been making the forwarded work email scene for a while now. He’s okay, but it’s more novelty than comedy, and I’d argue that of the comedians on this disc, he has the least replayability (outside of Mencia).

Then, you’ve got my four favorite comics on this DVD: Regan, Martin, Gaffigan, and Hedberg.

I admit, Brian Regan is a fairly acquired taste. His “stupid” voice he does for half his jokes can be annoying to some people, and a lot of his humor is more laughing at him than with him, which is really different from the typical stand-up routine. There’s a reason he’s a two time stand-up performer of the year winner, though. If your friends never really liked stand-up comedy, Regan’s a perfect act to get them interested, or at least see if they have good taste after all.

The former Daily Show reporter Demetri Martin is Zach Braff’s kind of comic. He does comedy, a bit of music, some random drawing (and writing), and all sorts of indie stuff. Basically, think of the type of comedian someone would enjoy if they liked iPods, Macs, Starbucks, and poetry and you have Martin.

You might recognize Jim Gaffigan; he’s had some success on television. The pale Indiana-born comedian is the angelic one in the group (which really tells you something), and he’s what my former roommate James like to call a “non-redneck white people comedian.” Basically, think of the kind of jokes the Blue Collar guys would do if they were playing for an urbanite crowd in Manhattan.

Then, we come to Mitch Hedberg. He’s easily my favorite stand-up comedian to ever perform on Comedy Central Presents, but I’m really puzzled at his inclusion on this DVD. The back states that this is the best of “today’s hottest comics,” but Hedberg passed away three years ago, and he was never that popular to begin with. Still, his one-liners a la Stephen Wright are tremendously funny, and his soft-spoken delivery is legendary. (By the way, he wears his glasses because he has severe anxiety issues and suffered from stage fright, not to hide his red eyes.)

Finally, there’s Carlos Mencia. Oh, Carlos. How a man can become so popular from stolen material is beyond me. There’s no questioning that Carlos rips off other comics and has constructed an entire false reality in order to appeal to a target audience. Just like Larry the Cable Guy is a fictional character, so too is Carlos Mencia. The difference? Larry didn’t rip jokes from better, more respected comedians. His inclusion on this DVD is obviously to try and pander to the crowd who – for some reason or another – loves the guy. I suppose when the only complaint you have about the eight comedians presented is that Mencia sucks, they did a good job.

Another thing I really didn’t like is all of the missing people. Where’s Stephen Lynch? How about Pablo Francisco, Patton Oswalt, Amazing Jonathan, Zack Galifinakis, Nick Swardson, or Frank Caliendo? The list of comedians who didn’t make the cut is arguably more impressive than those who did, and there’s no apparent rhyme or reason as to the selection criteria.

If you’re a fan of stand-up comedy, though, there’s no reason not to buy and love this DVD. You get 7 great comedians (and one horrid one) for the usual price of one Comedy Central Presents DVD, and for people like Mitch Hedberg, we can finally have a way to view his material without resorting to downloads.

CONTENT - 4/5

You get 8 Comedy Central Presents specials, 7 of which are bonafide classics. Mitch Hedberg alone would make this a great DVD, but toss in Lewis Black, Dane Cook, Jeff Dunham, Jim Gaffigan, Demetri Martin, and Brian Regan? Epic. The only reason this isn’t a 5/5 is because of the inclusion of Carlos Mencia at the cost of any number of better comedians.

VIDEO - 3/5

Remember, all of these were originally recorded for cable TV, so what you get is the 4:3 ratio, some slightly grainy picture at times, and the unmistakable TV look. Still, the translation from television to DVD was flawless, and while I can’t tell without an epic coincidence of one of these specials being on TV this weekend, it seems to be a little sharper in the color department.

AUDIO - 3/5

If you’re talking about the humor, then obviously this is a 5/5. With the actual technical aspects of the audio, however, you don’t really get anything special, even if you play it with 5.1. The center (and occasionally front) speakers are used for the comedian’s speech, while all the other speakers serve the purpose of crowd control in loud situations. Effective, but simple.

EXTRAS - 1/5

The disc comes with previews of Demetri Martin, Brian Regan, and Carlos Mencia’s latest stand-up specials, as well as four Comedy Central Quickies. The Quickies (about 1-2 minutes each) are from The Colbert Report, Lil Bush, The Sarah Silverman Program, and South Park. Colbert’s minute and a half discussion on breasts is the only worthwhile watch of the bunch. Sadly, it’s also by far the shortest.

OVERALL - 4/5

If you love comedy, I’d highly recommend this DVD. It features some of the most legendary contemporary stand-up comics, and even if you’ve seen it once chances are you’ll still want to watch them again and again. Have some friends over, watch a different special every weekend, and you’ll have weeks of fun. Even if you’re not a huge fan of comedy, give it a rental to at least get exposure to the best in the biz.

Like this post? Subscribe to Filmplosion!