August 8, 2008

"Cake or Death?"

I love a good stand-up comedy act. I love laughing so hard my stomach hurts, tears are rolling down my face, and soda is spraying out of my nose. I don't have a particular brand of preferred stand-up either. I like Carlos Mencia, Josh Blue, Jay Mohr, Chris Rock, Bill Cosby, Larry the Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall - and yet oddly enough, not a huge Ron White fan - and a few from this summer's "Last Comic Standing." Jeff Dye and Louis Ramey are consistently outstanding acts! I especially like catching a stand-up act of a now-accomplished actor; I'm usually pleasantly surprised to see that they're not just actors. They were actually funny all by themselves in their prior, lesser-known comic life.

Growing up, I knew Bill Cosby only as Dr. Huxtable. He loved dancing to jazz, deadpanning his kids, and trying to sneak in slices of cake when Claire wasn't looking. I had seen one or two of his "Kids Say the Darndest Things" on TV, but I had no real idea that he had this previous and much funny career as a stand-up comedian. I didn't see "Bill Cosby: Himself" until this past winter and let me tell you, Rob nearly had to mop me up off the floor I was laughing so hard! That man is a breed of funny I think any comedian would have trouble achieving. I saw him on Leno the other night and he's still got it. Amazing.

Anyway, the other night I was fortunate enough to catch Kevin James' "Sweat the Small Stuff" on Comedy Central. I couldn't believe how funny he was. I'd seen him on "King of Queens," which I admit I hardly ever watched, and of course I'd seen him in "Hitch." But his material on the little things in life that are real annoyances was terrific! I highly recommend Netflixing this if you like commentary on everyday life.

But there's always that one rotten apple in the barrel, isn't there? Want some disappointment to flutter into your life? Watch Bob Sagets "That Ain't Right." It's like watching the whitest man you know try to be Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock and a splash of Andrew Dice Clay. This man drops so much profanity it sounds more and more ridiculous every time he cusses and he's vulgar - in an inappropriate way. He talks about having "banged" or "bagged" teenage girls and I'm not talking about the teenage girls that are 18 and 19. It's disgusting. We turned it off halfway through because we hadn't laughed in about half an hour.

Remember Steve Carell's character in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin?" When he tried to cuss and act like he was the baddest mofo ever? That's what Bob Saget came across as only you had the wholesome image of Danny Tanner staring at you. Disturbing. He was trying so hard to shred that image that it turned into a horrific train wreck.

But maybe you're into watching train wrecks, what do I know?

In other movie news, I finally got to watch "P.S. I Love You" last night. Cried for the better part of the movie but I really, really enjoyed it. I'm not a huge Hillary Swank fan - and I'm still not - but she did a decent job of being the grieving widow. Who would I have preferred, you ask? Kate Winslet. Or maybe Rachel McAdams.

3 comments:

The Mom Jen said...

What did you think about the finale of Last Comic?? I SO thought Marcus was going to win!

Anonymous said...

I totally agree about casting Rachel McAdams as the lead in PS I Love You. I think my Swank-aversion is the reason I haven't watched that one yet. I'll definitely have to check out the Kevin James dvd and skip the Bob Saget one. Yuck! I would have turned it off too.

Anonymous said...

you should watch "the aristocrats"...it's a docu about an infamous stand-up joke...

i love dave chappelle and lewis black. lewis black is awesome because he does stand-up the exact way i go on rants...

i hate hilary swank. she's a horrible actress and an ugly ugly woman.

 
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