Normally we don’t review too many comedy discs on the Vault, but
\nsince this has been a summer of unpredictable twists, I’m doing it
\nanyway.<\/p>\n
As with most collections, there will be gripes about what is
\nincluded, usually due to inability to negotiate contract disputes.
\nRhino’s new
\nThe ’90s<\/i> set, for example, has nothing by Nirvana, which
\nprobably defined the decade better than any band. So it is a safe
\nbet Rhino’s 2-CD “greatest hits” of comedy would be sorely lacking,
\nand that’s pretty much the case.<\/p>\n
This could have been a great release, and admittedly trying to
\nsum up 70 years of comedy in two discs is an awful chore, but this
\none just misses the mark of being essential. It’s not a matter of
\nwhat is present, since most of it is quite funny, but what’s
\nmissing is just as glaring, especially in a compilation that tries
\nto be thorough.<\/p>\n
The heavy hitters are all here — George Carlin, Bill Cosby
\n(sadly represented by an unfunny sketch), Richard Pryor, Robin
\nWilliams, Rodney Dangerfield and Chris Rock. Other lesser known but
\nluminaries of the genre are present, such as Ellen DeGeneres, Sam
\nKinison, Woody Allen, Bill Hicks, Cheech & Chong, Dennis Miller
\nand Redd Foxx. Their bits are all representative of the comics
\nthemselves, and even if it’s not their funniest moments, it’s good
\nenough to make one realize why those comics stand above the
\nrest.<\/p>\n
However, a 2004 compilation should have included something from
\nthe phenomenon of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, specifically Jeff
\nFoxworthy, the best selling comedian of the ’90s. Nothing is
\nincluded from Eddie Murphy, Eddie Izzard, Adam Sandler, Margaret
\nCho, Bill Engvall, Lenny Bruce or Steve Martin. Maybe some of those
\nare personal choices, but record and concert sales for those
\ncomedians were much higher than some of the others included
\nhere.<\/p>\n
Some of the choices are confusing. Why Joe Rogan and Denis
\nLeary, both angry comedians, when we already have Bill Hicks? Why
\ntwo
\nSaturday Night Live<\/i> sketches, neither of which is very
\nfunny? Why Paul Reiser, Martin Lawrence, George Lopez, Roseanne,
\nRay Romano and Flip Wilson, all funny in their TV shows but not as
\nmuch on stage? And why two prank calls? They have never been
\nfunny.<\/p>\n
But some of the quirks here are highlights — Albert Brooks
\ndoing the creative musical “Rewriting The National Anthem,” Eddie
\nGriffin correctly insulting the hypocrisy of Christianity in “Save
\nMy Money,” Monty Python’s “Argument Clinic,” Steven Wright’s
\ndeadpan “Hitchhiking,” Robert Schimmel’s “The Gym” and Billy
\nCrystal’s “Now!” And the aforementioned Rodney Dangerfield turns in
\nthe funniest six minutes on the program, nothing but nonstop
\none-liners that leave the audience — and the listener — gasping
\nfor breath.<\/p>\n
It’s too bad the rest of the collection can’t do the same, no
\nmatter how admirably it tries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":27188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5827],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-38534","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-various-artists","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38534"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}