Welcome back to “Concession Stand,” where Premium Hollywood takes a look at DVDs while indulging in whatever food or beverage has recently been provided to us by a publicist…or, should there be a lapse in the free provisions, we’ll go find something from Dollar Tree, Big Lots, or Ollie’s Bargain Outlet that we’ve never heard of before but which screams to be tasted. Thankfully, however, there’ll be no need to leave the house this go-round, as we have a lovely bottle of spirits which was recently delivered to our front doorstep that will do the trick nicely. Why? Because we’ve decided to tackle a trio of stand-up comedy DVDs, and everyone knows that comedy is always funnier when you’ve got a few adult beverages in you.
The beverage: Three Olives Cherry Vodka. The idea of flavored vodka seems kind of lazy and cost-cutting, doesn’t it? It’s like saying, “Gosh, I’d like to mix my vodka with something to make it taste better, but then I’d have to walk two extra steps to the refrigerator to see what I can add to it, and if there’s nothing there, then I’ll just feel like I’ve wasted my time for nothing, so why don’t I just save myself the trouble and buy a bottle of vodka that already has a flavor to it?”
I’m not quite as lazy as all that, but I can still buy into the inherent concept…and based on the number of flavored vodkas being produced by Three Olives these days, it’s pretty clear that I’m not the only one. They offer – wait, let me take a breath first – berry, cherry, chocolate, citrus, grape, mango, orange, pomegranate, raspberry, root beer, vanilla, watermelon, and, triple shot espresso.
Oh, right, and they also have a plain vodka for you boring old purists out there.
The bottle they sent to me, as you may have guessed from the photograph hovering off to the right, was cherry-flavored. Seemed like the best possible flavor, really, given that A) I can manage to drag myself from the liquor cabinet to the refrigerator, and B) cherry blends well with just about any cola you might have in stock…which is exactly what I did blend it with when I sat down to enjoy the first of these three stand-up comedy DVDs. In truth, I actually had enough stand-up DVDs stockpiled to review more than three while under the influence of cherry vodka, but I figured, hey, why waste a perfectly good opportunity to do a sequel? Besides, three strong drinks could make even Harland Williams’s Har-Larious seem funny…and when you’ve reached that point, it’s clearly time to close the laptop and go to bed.
Craig Ferguson, A Wee Bit O’ Revolution
Beverage: Three Olives Cherry Vodka with Coca-Cola
Craig Ferguson is awesome…but, then, I knew that before I put in his stand-up special. I always thought he was funny on “The Drew Carey Show,” loved him in “Saving Grace” (he co-wrote the script for that, you know), and, God help me, I even have a soft spot for “The Big Tease,” but he’s now secured immortality through his late-night talk show, and, man, does he deserve it. I’d never have bet on a man with a brogue like that to survive on American television, but his tendency to talk in an open, off-the-cuff manner makes him seem like less like a host and more like a close friend. (Ironically, I’ve tried on a couple of different occasions but have consistently failed to get an interview with the man. Maybe it’s easier for him to be open to a large crowd than it is in an intimate, one-on-one setting? Yes, that makes me feel a little better about my failure, so we’ll go with that.)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his first-ever stand-up special, “A Wee Bit O’ Revolution,” often feels less like stand-up and more like a spoken-word performance, as he weaves tales of his life and times between more traditional “have you ever noticed…?” bits. He offers great stories about going to see Blue Oyster Cult and Deep Purple in concert, missing virtually the entire performance by the latter due to a poor selection of pre-show pharmaceuticals. (“I knew a guy whose older brother worked in a hospital, and he had access to chloroform…which, he assured me, was a drug.”) There’s much talk from Ferguson about his past addictions – alcohol was generally his drug of choice – and how, when you’re in rehab, you know you’re getting better when you’re beating the junkies at Jenga. (“Your move, Shaky.”) The best bit for longtime Ferguson fans, however, is probably when he speaks of how his road to “The Drew Carey Show” began with an audition for the pilot of “Suddenly Susan,” where he was asked read for the part of a Hispanic photographer. Wow, so does that mean that there’s an alternate universe somewhere where he got the job and subsequently went on to play Richard Halpert on “Lost”?
Click to buy “A Wee Bit O’ Revolution”
Dana Gould, Let Me Put My Thoughts In You
Beverage: Three Olives Cherry Vodka with pink grapefruit juice. And fuck you and your “what a pansy mixer,” ’cause it tasted awesome.
I used to love Dana Gould’s stand-up in the 1990s. He was a Comedy Central staple back in the pre-“South Park” days when every other program on the network spotlighted some stand-up special or other, but at some point, he just kind of…disappeared. Those with a keen eye for TV credits, however, would have noticed that he’d simply gone off the stage and onto the writing staff of “The Simpsons,” where he spent six years. (He’s the one responsible for the classic “Evita” parody, “The President Wore Pearls.”) So I got excited when I heard that he was returning to his stand-up roots and releasing a new special through Shout! Factory, and I got even more excited when I heard it was going to be directed by Bob Odenkirk, late of “Mr. Show.”
Having watched “Let Me Put My Thoughts In You,” however, I walked away pleased but not completely blown away. Don’t get me wrong, it was great to see Gould back in front of an audience, and some of the material was downright hilarious. I felt a kinship with the man as he explained how he struggles with his daughters because he knows how to use reason and they don’t. Mind you, I’ve never gotten so frustrated that I called my daughter the C-word, but, still, I get where he’s coming from. (Dammit, don’t assure me that you’re not going to ask for milk in fifteen minutes and then, fifteen minutes later, ask me for milk!) And as someone who’s quiet and passive by nature, I laughed way too hard at his description of his initial relationship with his wife: “She does something that really annoys me, and I…say nothing and eventually die of cancer.” But there are many occasions where Gould falls into rants which are punctuated by angry faces and random exclamations which just don’t bring the funny as well as you wish they did. Still, there’s more than enough good stuff here – the idea that terminal diagnoses should be delivered in an effeminate voice to make them easier to take, the premise that you get to heaven and are forced to tell all the children who died of starvation all the things you bought on eBay – to make you glad that he’s back on stage…and to make you hopeful for future specials.
Click to buy “Let Me Put My Thoughts In You”
Christopher Titus, Love Is Evol
Beverage: Three Olives Cherry Vodka, straight up.
If you saw “Titus,” the Fox sitcom starring Christopher Titus, or you’ve caught any of his previous stand-up specials, then you know that the man’s material veers into some pretty dark places. As a result, I saved “Love Is Evol” for last because I needed that third drink to loosen me up enough to laugh at some of his bits. The poor bastard’s been through a lot of dark shit over the past couple of years, and he’s come through the other side a winner, but Titus has never been afraid to lay the truth on the line, so it’s somehow not shocking that, after ranting about how his wife of 15 years left him, he admitted that he actually held a gun underneath his chin and was moments away from pulling the trigger. So what stopped him? Was it the love of his children…? Actually, no, it was the fact that he couldn’t bear the thought of his wife getting possession of the hot rods he’d built.
That’s Titus for you.
And so is the fact that, when he’s describing how he considers the events of his life, he often has to deal with the impressions of what he refers to as his “inner retard.” Titus is a far cry from politically correct, but his incorrectness is done in such a way that it doesn’t feel like he’s being a complete asshole…or if it does, then he’s generally not afraid to admit as much. “Love is Evol” is filled with the same kind of true-life material you’ve come to expect from Titus, and although most of it focuses on his recent divorce and how he actually came out a winner in the end (he subsequently found himself with a 5’11” hottie of a girlfriend who’s both intelligent and financially self-sufficient), he does manage to make time for a flashback to to discuss how his notoriously irascible father told him the tale of his conception. I wouldn’t dare spoil the story for you, but before his dad told it, he asked with a smirk, “You sure you want to hear this?” That’s pretty much the question you ask yourself whenever you’re presented with the opportunity to listen to a new Christopher Titus album, just because you know it won’t be a completely comfortable ride. It will, however, be a funny one, which is why you invariably answer, “Bring it on.”
Final Verdict:
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a lot of good laughs out of all three specials, but if I had to rank them in order of preference, I’d pick Christopher Titus first, then follow up with Craig Ferguson and Dana Gould. You just can’t go wrong with Titus. And as for the Three Olives Cherry Vodka, it’s good stuff, and it holds its own relatively well as in a straight shot, but all things being equal, I think I still preferred it with a mixer.
