Published on Sep 15, 2005
Normally we don’t review too many comedy discs on the Vault, but
since this has been a summer of unpredictable twists, I’m doing it
anyway.
As with most collections, there will be gripes about what is
included, usually due to inability to negotiate contract disputes.
Rhino’s new
The ’90s set, for example, has nothing by Nirvana, which
probably defined the decade better than any band. So it is a safe
bet Rhino’s 2-CD “greatest hits” of comedy would be sorely lacking,
and that’s pretty much the case.
This could have been a great release, and admittedly trying to
sum up 70 years of comedy in two discs is an awful chore, but this
one just misses the mark of being essential. It’s not a matter of
what is present, since most of it is quite funny, but what’s
missing is just as glaring, especially in a compilation that tries
to be thorough.
The heavy hitters are all here — George Carlin, Bill Cosby
(sadly represented by an unfunny sketch), Richard Pryor, Robin
Williams, Rodney Dangerfield and Chris Rock. Other lesser known but
luminaries of the genre are present, such as Ellen DeGeneres, Sam
Kinison, Woody Allen, Bill Hicks, Cheech & Chong, Dennis Miller
and Redd Foxx. Their bits are all representative of the comics
themselves, and even if it’s not their funniest moments, it’s good
enough to make one realize why those comics stand above the
rest.
However, a 2004 compilation should have included something from
the phenomenon of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, specifically Jeff
Foxworthy, the best selling comedian of the ’90s. Nothing is
included from Eddie Murphy, Eddie Izzard, Adam Sandler, Margaret
Cho, Bill Engvall, Lenny Bruce or Steve Martin. Maybe some of those
are personal choices, but record and concert sales for those
comedians were much higher than some of the others included
here.
Some of the choices are confusing. Why Joe Rogan and Denis
Leary, both angry comedians, when we already have Bill Hicks? Why
two
Saturday Night Live sketches, neither of which is very
funny? Why Paul Reiser, Martin Lawrence, George Lopez, Roseanne,
Ray Romano and Flip Wilson, all funny in their TV shows but not as
much on stage? And why two prank calls? They have never been
funny.
But some of the quirks here are highlights — Albert Brooks
doing the creative musical “Rewriting The National Anthem,” Eddie
Griffin correctly insulting the hypocrisy of Christianity in “Save
My Money,” Monty Python’s “Argument Clinic,” Steven Wright’s
deadpan “Hitchhiking,” Robert Schimmel’s “The Gym” and Billy
Crystal’s “Now!” And the aforementioned Rodney Dangerfield turns in
the funniest six minutes on the program, nothing but nonstop
one-liners that leave the audience — and the listener — gasping
for breath.
It’s too bad the rest of the collection can’t do the same, no
matter how admirably it tries.