JB Smoove is a comedian who will be most recognizable to most people as Leon Black from the magnificent Curb Your Enthusiasm.  And if you’re familiar with Larry David’s incredibly funny TV show, and the character of Leon, you might believe that JB Smoove will be equally funny when performing stand-up comedy.

     If this is what you believe, you would be wrong.  Oh, there are a few funny moments in his new stand-up DVD, That’s How I Dooz It, out April 3^rd from Paramount Home Entertainment.  I thought his bit about cops running with a bunch of stuff on their belts was very good.  But most of his act is physical humour that goes on way too long.  In the whole 60 minutes, there appear to be only seven actual jokes, each one beaten to death by an overly long physical demonstration of the joke itself.  There’s a chair on stage, but he never sits down, instead using the chair to represent his girlfriend when he describes their sexual intercourse.  He uses the mic cable to represent his sperm, which is actually a lot LESS funny than it sounds.

     During the whole DVD, I laughed for about two minutes.  And two minutes out of sixty is a three percent success rate.  So I am giving JB Smoove That’s How I Dooz It a three percent recommendation (even though at one star, it LOOKS like ten percent).  If you only buy 98 stand-up comedy special DVDs this year, this ought to be one of them!

     On April 3^rd, Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing a stand-up DVD called Lights Out, featuring Filipino stand-up comic Jo Koy.  It’s Koy’s second stand-up special DVD after Don’t Make Him Angry, which came out three years ago, in 2009.  At that time, I predicted that Jo Koy would not be remembered very long, and would be off our radar by 2011.  I was clearly wrong.

     I said that then because I didn’t like Don’t Make Him Angry.  It was all ethnic jokes about being Filipino, and lame attempts at edginess with reference to his kid.  Lights Out is a lot of the same stuff, but it IS (marginally) better.  This time, he riffs on his mother a lot, and some of the edgy stuff is good in that he no longer seems to be trying too hard.  His bit about his mom grabbing his wiener when he was a kid feels real, and a bit about her standing at the foot of his bed monitoring his sleep patterns is very funny.

     I’m still not a big Jo Koy fan.  The really funny bits in this particular routine were few and far between.  And I still find him more tepid than terrific.  But Lights Out is better than Don’t Make Him Angry, so I feel like three years from NOW, I might actually find that Jo Koy has become decent.

Year:  2011
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Jeff Dunham
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

                Jeff Dunham is coming to Ottawa October 23^rd.  He’ll be playing Scotiabank Place.  Seriously.  Scotiabank Place!  That’s Jerry Seinfeld territory!  But Dunham is THAT popular.  In fact, he’s currently the top-selling comedy act in North America, and probably the most successful ventriloquist ever!

     This makes me almost ashamed to admit – I don’t get it.  I just watched Dunham’s stand up special Controlled Chaos, out September 27^th from Paramount Home Entertainment.  I watched it, and I tried to find it funny, and I tried to laugh, but I just don’t get it. 

     He’s got these recognizable characters – Ahmed the dead terrorist.  The jalapeno on a stick.  And he makes them talk.  And he’s good at it.  Like, I can’t see his mouth moving at all.  So…that’s neat for a while.  But I’m not laughing.  And I’m bored.  And I don’t get it at all when the jalapeno says “on a stick” with a Mexican accent and the crowd goes WILD!  I’m confused.  Why is that funny?  That’s not a punchline, or a joke, or even a vaguely amusing observation.  It’s just a description of the puppet that I can already see. 

     I’ve got to say that Jeff Dunham isn’t the only comedian I just don’t get.  People love Dane Cook and Larry the Cable Guy and Robin Williams, but I just sit there in disbelief and scratch my head while I watch my friends roll in the aisles.  Am I the only one who realizes these people aren’t in ANY way funny, or am I the only one not sophisticated enough to grasp the humour?  I’m not sure.  All I know is I feel like I’m being left out of a joke when everyone starts splitting their sides.

     But the masses have spoken and they are not me, and Jeff Dunham is playing Scotiabank Place, and I most certainly am not.  And YOU can pick up Controlled Chaos on DVD and Blu-Ray.  And YOU can win tickets through CHEZ to go SEE him play Scotiabank Place in October.  But I most certainly will not.

Year:  2011
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Godfrey
Run time:  70 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     I like Godfrey.  I watched his new stand-up DVD, Black By Accident, out August 30th from Paramount Home Entertainment, and I felt my self liking him.  He’s very likeable, pleasant, and seems terrifically friendly.  That doesn’t mean, necessarily, that I liked his stand-up special.

     Godfrey has some decent material, and a great delivery most of the time.  I also like his voices – he does a perfect Denzel Washington, a great Schwarzenegger, a pretty good Obama.  But I have a huge problem with one voice he does.  It’s the generic “woman” voice that he puts on whenever he wants to speak in the voice of his girlfriend, or any other woman ever.  And it’s the most obnoxious, awful voice imaginable.

     Apparently, to Godfrey, every woman alive sounds like a whiny four year old with the sniffles.  And, like a whiny four-year-old, she repeats everything she says forty times.  It’s cold in here…is it cold in here…it’s cold in here…it’s COLD in here…and so on and so forth until I want to rip my ears off.  Or, in what would be perhaps a more constructive and mature reaction, to hit “skip” on the DVD remote.

     The real problem with Godfrey’s special is that this obnoxious, awful and cringe-inducing “woman” voice takes up a VERY LARGE PORTION of the show.  So for every five minutes I was laughing, I was wincing for the next five.  As I said, some of it WAS good, and I’m glad I saw it.  But now that I have seen it, and I know that voice is a very large part of it, I will never watch it again.

Year:  2011
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Norm McDonald
Run time:  58 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     Norm McDonald is one of the funniest ppeople alive.  I think he deserves a far bigger audience and a far higher profile than the one he already enjoys.  His laid-back, deadpan delivery is magnificent, and he’s the only one who can really pull that style off consistently.  His new stand-up DVD is no exception – only Norm McDonald would make the TITLE of his DVD as deadpan as he is – Me Doing Stand-Up.  Even the title makes me laugh.

     Through this stand-up special McDonald tackles some subjects that might be taboo, or even controversial.  But I never noticed.  I was laughing too much and enjoying the show, so it was only after it was over that I thought – oh yeah – some of that might have offended someone somewhere.  Death, “battling” cancer, alcoholism, the lack of anonymity in “Alcoholics Anonymous” – McDonald is not mean-spirited in any way, there is no malice in his material or his delivery, and I doubt there is a subject on earth he could tackle that would ruffle too many feathers.

     I think his bit about his uncle, lying in his hospital bed “battling” cancer was the funniest – “here’s how he fought that battle – lynig in his hospital bed watching Matlock.”  Norm (I feel like I can use his first name because we went to many of the same schools and so, though I’ve never met him, I know him tangentially through less than thirty people – we’re tight) suggests that “battle” is the worst possible word, because when people die they “lost the battle with cancer” – and who wants to go out a loser?

     Norm is getting a little more recognition lately – his sports show is running on the Comedy Network now, and this DVD features a sitcom pilot of a show tentatively called Back To Norm.  The sitcom isn’t nearly as funny as his stand-up though.  McDonald is at his best when he’s performing only his own original material.  And Me Doing Stand-up is fantastic as a result.  It comes to DVD June 14th from Paramount Home Entertainment.

Year:  2011
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Daniel Tosh
Run time:  58 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     I like Daniel Tosh.  He’s one of the few comics who TRY to say the most offensive thing they can, and actually SUCCEED in making it funny.  His new DVD, Happy Thoughts, out March 8th from Paramount Home Entertainment, is no exception.  He got me to laugh at child abuse, a kid decapitated by an amusement park ride, a little girl run down by a car in his neighbourhood, and spousal assault.  I’m quite impressed with people who can make spousal assault and the death of children funny outside their own circle of perverse friends.

     Of course, Tosh’s brand of comedy is not for everyone.  People who are easily offended should probably avoid this.  Then again, people who are easily offended should probably avoid all comedy in general, on principle.  The one thing I like most about Tosh is his total unwillingness to soften any of his harsh bits.  Normally comedians make jokes about their wives and girlfriends, really mean-spirited stuff, but then they try to soften themselves in the eyes of the audience by saying “really, though, I DO love my wife/girlfriend/etc.”

     Not Tosh.  No, he ups the ante with “seriously though, I HATE my girlfriend”.  He takes the story of the little girl killed by a car, and makes a really funny observation about the speed bumps that were put on the street as a result.  Then, he takes it one step further by imagining her parents to be terrible people for no good reason except that it’s funny to then deconstruct the joke in reverse.  Which of course he does.  And it gets much, much funnier.

     The special features are pretty good too, as we get to see Tosh in a slightly different way, interacting with the audience and making jokes about the filming of the special itself.  There’s about 10-15 extra minutes of Tosh, which is welcome as the special itself runs only 58 minutes.  Also included are the two opening acts.  Jasper Redd is a fast-talking comedian who does a decent set, although most of it is about Grimace at McDonalds, and I feel like I’ve heard that bit too often.  Matt Fulchiron is not as good – although I assume he’s from San Francisco, where the special was taped, and most of his jokes are directed at that audience and relatively unintelligible for those of us who don’t live there.

     I have never watched Tosh.0, Daniel Tosh’s show that runs on the Comedy Network here in Canada.  But after seeing this stand-up special, I set my PVR to tape it the next time it’s on.  I doubt he’ll be as caustic on TV as he was on this DVD, but if he’s half as funny I’ll be happy enough.

Year:  2011
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Eddie Griffin
Run time:  84 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     Like so many comedians (George Lopez, Robin Williams, Dane Cook, the list goes on and on) I feel like Eddie Griffin is all delivery and no substance.  He’s got that harsh voice and the leer and the strut and he’s enjoyable to watch, but not a lot of what he says makes me laugh.  I think one of the best things you can say about a comedian is that after watching his (or her) stand-up special, you want to quote a bunch of it to your friends.  I just finished watching Griffin’s special, and the only line I remember clearly is “you can tell ‘em I said it” – and that’s because his special is called You Can Tell ‘Em I Said It, and the phrase is therefore printed on the DVD box.

     Griffin takes on a lot of sacred cows, and tries to be as irreverant as is humanly possible.  He opens the show talking filthy about Michelle Obama, in words I can’t really reprint in this forum.  Now, I love irreverant humour.  But it has to make me laugh to be considered humour.  And just saying you want to f- the s- out of the a- of the First Lady is not, on its own, funny.  It’s just crass.  I’m not sure this bit would get a laugh at a drunken frat party.  It does, of course, get laughs out of the crowd in the special – after all, crowds go to comedy shows ready to laugh whether they really like something or not.

     Then Griffin gets into the stuff all comedians rip on – Viagra, black men like white women, hahaha and all that.  By the time he does his black-guy impressions and his white-guy impressions I feel like I’m watching a comedian down at the local Comedy Club, riffing on the easiest things in the easiest way.  Sure, he’s polished and his act is honed and he’s done it hundreds of times, but that’s his only real edge.  He’s funny because we think he’s funny because he’s been doing it for such a long time.  But the laughs are fading.

Years:  2010
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Dennis Leary, Lenny Clarke, Adam Ferrara, Whitney Cummings
Run time:  99 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     Dennis Leary is right.  There is just something about the word “douchebag” that is wonderful.  It rolls off the tongue, it sounds so much less dreadful than what it actually is, and it conveys the exact feeling one has toward someone that one might consider to be a douchebag.  And there are many people on Dennis Leary’s list of douchebags.  Men who wear fanny packs, who wax their junk, who have pony tails (but aren’t in a band).  Also specific people.  Glenn Beck, Al Gore, Rush Limbaugh, Mel Gibson, Larry Craig…the list goes on.  And on.

     Leary opens the show with a rundown of the douchebag behaviour of all those on the list, plus many more.  His bit about Senator Larry Craig and his “wide stance” at the ol’ gay-pickup airport bathroom is hilarious if, at this point, a little dated.  I loved his segment on drugs and their side effects so much I included that video clip in this review.  It’s the kind of thing I have been saying for years, but never have I been as funny talking about it as is Dennis Leary.

     Leary is as caustic as ever.  Actually, I shouldn’t say he “opens the show” with his list of douchebags.  He doesn’t.  That’s just his first extended segment.  The show actually opens with a dubbed introduction by the pope, which then leads into a musical attack on the Catholic Church and the pope personally.  There are a couple of musical numbers in the show, but they lack the impact and humour of the stand-up bits.  (With the exception, of course, of the classic “A***ole” which closes the show.

     There are three guests who each do 15 minutes, and they’re all pretty good.  Whitney Cummings is a comic I’ve seen only on the Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff, and that whole thing was awful.  Here she’s crass and vulgar and talks about sex in a way few female comics do successfully.  Then Lenny Clarke comes on and tones it down with a bit about weight loss and texting.  Then he tries to talk about a donkey show in Tijauana, but comes off as the old guy trying to be hip to the young folk by talking about something filthy and quoting 40 Year Old Virgin.

     Clarke is about the same age as Leary, but seems decades older.  Maybe that’s because he plays Leary’s uncle on Rescue Me.  Or because he’s lived a longer, harder life.  But I don’t think he can get away with the same material Leary can still handle admirably. 

     Finally, we get Adam Ferrara, who mostly talks about his upcoming marriage, his girlfriend and her family.  Familiar ground for a comedian, but Ferrara has a solid delivery and enough fresh jokes to make it worthwhile.  Then Leary takes the stage again, and closes with what has, over the years, become his anthem.

     It’s a fitting end to the show – a song from 20 years ago, sung by an aging comedian in his 50s, but still as timely and caustic as ever.  The whole show sounds like it came from at least three years ago, as one of the most recent references is to Larry Craig, whose scandal began in 2007.  The rest of Leary’s material takes us WAY back, to mug shots of James Brown (1988), Lawrence Taylor (1996), Nick Nolte (2002), and Heather Locklear (2008).  The fact that it still makes me laugh is a testament to the man’s skill.  Which is as sharp as ever.

Year:  2010
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Louis CK
Run time:  84 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     Louis CK is hit and miss in his stand-up special Hilarious, out January 11th from Paramount Home Entertainment.  Thankfully, he’s mostly hit, as I loved his bit about Hitler and Ray Charles (check out above video) and his bit about fighting with his three-year-old daughter about Fig Newtons vs. Pig Newtons really hit home for me.  I have the same fights with my kids and, like him, I realize that I should of course know better.

     Louis CK is caustic, and vulgar, and angry and all the things I like in my comedians.  And his bit about the word “hilarious” is very very funny.  Although he does suggest that in order for something to truly be “hilarious”, it must be SO funny that you can’t think abuot anything else and lose your job and end up living homeless in a ditch.  Or something like that.  I’m paraphrasing.  By that standard, of course, Louis CK does not live up to his own lofty expectation of what is “hilarious”.  But over the course of the 84-minute stand-up special, I DID miss a meal.  So he must be pretty damn funny.

Years:  2010
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Greg Giraldo, Seth MacFarlane, Pamela Anderson, Hulk Hogan, Jerry Springer, Gilbert Gottfried, Jeffrey Ross, Lisa Lampanelli, Whitney Cummings, George Hamilton
Guest appearances:  Sharon Osbourne, Piers Morgan
Run time:  67 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     Dedicated to Greg Giraldo, who tragically passed away last year after this roast, the Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff comes out January 11th from Paramount Home Entertainment.  If you’re looking to honour Giraldo by watching some of his material, there are better ways.  Try to find Greg Giraldo: Midlife Vices.  It’s a far better showcase for Giraldo’s humour than this sad, trite pile of garbage.

     I have compiled a list of the jokes I heard most often on this special…here goes…

  #1 – Pamela Anderson has huge knockers.  I heard many of these same jokes during the Roast of Pamela Anderson.  By the same comedians.  They are still boring.

  #2 – George Hamilton has a ridiculous fake tan.  This is true.  But then, why the hell is George Hamilton here at all?

  #3 – Pamela Anderson is a huge slut and has sex with men with big penises.  Again…I’ve heard all this before.

  #4 – Hulk Hogan is gay.  I guess he IS wearing a feather boa and looks silly…wait.  Again, why the hell is he here?

  #5 – Lisa Lampanelli is ugly and fat and likes to have sex with black guys.  I have heard these jokes many times before.  On every other roast ever.  Because that, apparently, is all Lisa Lampanelli ever does.  Have sex with black guys and appear on roasts.  And be unfunny.

  #6 – Jerry Springer is a bottom-feeder.  Haha cause, you know his show and everything?  All those trailer sluts?  Haha.  Funny, huh?  And wait – why the hell is Jerry Springer here?

  #7 – George Hamilton’s career is dead.  It must be…he’s appearing on seriously awful Comedy Central specials…like this one.

  #8 – Hulk Hogan’s daughter is slutty and looks like a man.  Well…that’s kinda true.  And kinda funny.

  #9 – David Hasselhoff is a bad actor.  True…but there were EIGHT jokes that were repeated more often than the one about the person BEING roasted?  Remember why we’re here, people…David Hasselhoff.  The subject of tonight’s proceedings?

  #10 – David Hasselhoff is drunk and likes cheeseburgers.  And…that was it.  There are only two David Hasselhoff jokes in the world, it seems.

     Attempts were made to connect Hasselhoff with Pamela Anderson.  Since…what the hell, she’s sitting there anyway.  But again, these “jokes” are made at her expense, not his.  And there are some half-hearted attempts to make fun of the fact that Hasselhoff is big in Germany…but they suck.  In fact, all of this sucks.  It’s just a bunch of weak comedians and why-are-they-there celebrities peacocking around and laughing at each other.  But I wasn’t laughing.  Cause it wasn’t funny.  It was dreadful.

Years:  2009
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Gabriel Iglesias
Run time:   63 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     I like Gabriel Iglesias.  Most of the time I find him at least mildly amusing, and sometimes extremely funny.  I like his stand-up special I’m Not Fat…I’m Fluffy, which came out last year.  Not a big fan of the “fluffy” thing, don’t care about the cake or the kid, but the voices he does are terrific and I love his bit about Paul Rodriguez and Nickelodeon.  You’ve got to see it.  At any rate, Iglesias is a funny, happy, jolly fat guy whose comedy is clean and for the most part family-friendly.

     Then again, I must question this particular release.  I’m glad more people will be exposed to Gabriel Iglesias.  I’m glad for the opportunity to write a quick blurb about him here and hopefully convince a few more people that he is worth watching.  But…Blu-Ray?  In what bonkers, skewed world does that seem necessary?  I get it, eventually everything will be on Blu-Ray, or whatever comes next.  But the idea behind Blu-Ray is crystal-clear high definition.  I watch football games in HD so I can see the cleat marks on Brett Favre’s face.  I watch Terrence Malick movies in HD for the sweeping beauty of the pictures.

     I really have no need to see a big fat guy sweat buckets in high definition.  Watching this Blu-Ray made me feel damp and unpleasant.  I don’t get it.  Iglesias may say he is “fluffy”, but he is also fat.  Very fat.  And not high-definition-friendly.

Years:  2010
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up, Documentary
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Subject:  Sam Kinison
Starring:  Dennis Leary, Ice-T, Lewis Black, Chris Rock, Jay Leno, Ron White, Kathy Griffin, Lenny Clarke, Norm MacDonald, George Lopez
Run time:   60 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     I don’t think I would get Sam Kinison if I just watched a bunch of his stand-up.  He seems to be more concerned with volume than he is with actual jokes, he’s so bitter and angry it’s hard to laugh, and his persona is more frightening than humourous.  Sure, I get that shock value is sometimes more revolutionary in the comedy world than the material itself is, but Kinison sure didn’t seem like he was doing anything for shock value.  He really appeared to be playing himself – an unstable, furious screaming maniac.

     That’s why Back From Hell is such a great documentary to showcase Kinison.  I actually need to hear from Lewis Black and Chris Rock.  I need Dennis Leary to explain to me what made Kinison so great.  And after listening to all these gigantic names in the comedy world, and appreciating their appreciation for this man, I can actually understand his brilliance, and I get it.  Well…almost.

Years:  2010
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Bo Burnham
Run time:   63 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     You don’t need to be familiar with Heizenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, the works of William Shakespeare, the lyrics of Eminem, the legend of King Midas or the sexual proclivities of sea otters to enjoy Bo Burnham’s Words Words Words, out on DVD October 16th from Paramount Home Entertainment.  But it would help to have a really vast knowledge about everything in the world.

     For example, the stand-up special begins with a couple of jokes about Noam Chomsky and a strap-on.  Sadly, I assume that far more people know what a strap-on is than know what a Noam Chomsky is.  But you kind of need to know both to find it funny. 

     Either way, whether you’re worldly and learned or an illiterate shut-in, you’ll miss large portions of Words Words Words.  The jokes come so fast and rapid-fire that you can’t help but miss one while you’re laughing at another.  In a rap song obviously inspired by Eminem, I laughed hard enough at the line about a gay sea otter (I blow dudes outta the water) that I missed about a full verse of the song.

     In my opinion, this is the best thing a stand-up comedy DVD can do – tell more jokes than I can handle at one time.  That means I can watch it over and over and still get something new out of it time and again.  Which means it’s well worth the purchase.  Also, it’s all about words.  And I’m a word nerd.  There are some word jokes that just don’t work well when I remember them later – “if you take the ‘bat’ out of the ‘basement’…you get semen” – work great in the special because Burnham has such great delivery and stage presence. 

     This one is a must for comedy fans – especially those who have followed older comedians for years.  Burnham takes old jokes from older comedians and turns them on their head – and in many cases, makes them much funnier.  It all works, it’s all great, and I can’t wait for the next Bo Burnham DVD.

Year:  2010
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Eric Stolhanske
Run time:   78 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     I sort of like the Broken Lizard movies.  Club Dread has a fantastic soundtrack and a few funny moments.  Super Troopers was mostly good, except when it was disgusting and forgot to be funny.  Beerfest and The Slammin’ Salmon had a few good scenes.  Except when they went for the low-brow gross-out and forgot to be funny.  Sadly, Broken Lizard Stands Up takes most of the gross-out humour and leaves out most of the funny.

     There must be someone keeping these guys in check when they make their movies.  Because judging by this stand-up set, all five of them think that just saying “masturbation” is funny enough.  Swear words and stories about weed and sex and masturbation.  Get it?  Or was there a joke to get at all?  I didn’t laugh too much here, and I spent a lot of time drifting away and not paying attention.

     Broken Lizard Stands Up comes out September 14th from Paramount Home Entertainment.  Watch it if you want, I guess.  But you’d be better off just renting Super Troopers again.

Years:  2010
Genre:  Comedy, Stand-up
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Lewis Black
Run time:   80 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     I am a huge fan of Lewis Black.  He is as incisive and funny as any comedian since George Carlin.  Stark Raving Black, out June 15th from Paramount Home Entertainment, is not his best stuff.  This is one of the weakest sets I have seen from him, as he doesn’t really take on current events or social insanity the way he normally does.  He has some good bits about biofuels, and performing at USO shows, but the set meanders and rarely hits home.

     That being said, this DVD is fantastic anyway.  It comes with 150 minutes of bonus material, including a documentary on Black’s life and career called Basic Black.  It’s fascinating stuff, and there’s enough of it that Lewis Black fans like me will be sitting down for hours to take all of this in.

     Now, there’s also a fold-out poster inside.  That sort of perplexed me.  Lewis Black doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would ask for a fold-out poster of himself to be included with his DVD release.  In fact, I suspect he’s the kind of guy who would laugh at something like that.  Actually – that’s a special feature I would have loved to see on this DVD.  The conversation where the producers of this stand-up special pitched the “fold-out poster” idea to Lewis Black.  I’m hoping for that one on the next DVD release.  And I will be able to watch it on my television, which is now conveniently located directly beneath a poster of Lewis Black.