Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Comedies are really hard to rate and recommend because the viewer has to be in the right mood. I like to watch stand-up comedians but there’s usually only a couple funny lines and I find myself booing them off stage from the sofa.

This show is about and hour and he is the only comedian on DVD. I was skeptical when I chose this DVD because I didn’t recognize his name but Jim Gaffigan is an established comedian. He was very confident when he spoke and kept on track and presented well. He uses his voice really well to keep the viewer interested. He doesn't make any moves or illustrations with his body. He's not so fun to watch visually so perhaps the CD version would have been a better choice.

This man was great at entertaining without offending. It must be pretty difficult to be the comedian who wants to be funny yet not rub someone the wrong way. Just some good clean comedy. You can’t really talk about real issues and certainly not current events otherwise you’d slam one person after another. He had very few negative things to say and what small amount that could have been construed by someone with a poor sense of humor was apologized for. He has a really funny technique that he uses to redirect. It took me awhile to like the idea. I kept thinking, “Why does he keep doing that? He’s weird.” Once you’ve seen the DVD you’ll understand that statement is actually hilarious. It took me awhile to warm up to the idea but eventually I found it funny and found that my husband and me were making similar comments weeks after watching the show. I like originality and was interested in this technique that I haven’t seen done this way before. This was used throughout the whole show, which could have been extreme but worked out well.

The man wasn’t necessarily fat, certainly not to America’s standards but you could tell that he isn’t shy when he eats. The meat of his jokes was related to food. I guess that’s a safe subject and according to the rules, you can always make fun of yourself.

I noticed that neither of us laughed throughout the DVD. We snickered a little but we never broke into laughter. By the end of the show we really weren’t sure if he was funny or not, but he was definitely entertaining. A lot of comedy skits are more fun live or with a drink in hand. This one, I thought, worked well from the couch.

I saw this on DVD but discovered that this will be showing on Comedy Central this Tuesday 05/23/06 and Wednesday 5/24/06. The DVD does contain several segments that aren’t played on TV which are listed below.


The contents of the DVD:
I love food / Packaging (not on TV special) / The grocery store (not on TV special) / Eat like an American / Fast Food (not on TV special) / Delivery / Spray cheese (not on TV special) / Case against Cinnabons (not on TV special) / Dessert / Cake / Holidays / Presents / Eating Out (not on TV special) / Vegetarian / Steak and Salad (not on TV special) / Eat healthy (not on TV special) / Hot Pockets / Film Director (not on TV special) / Doing nothing (not on TV special) / Email (not on TV special) / Weird (not on TV special) / Catholic / Heaven / Jesus, Mary and Joseph


You could see this on TV however these segments all work well together. I don’t know if the skit will be as effective on TV as it is on DVD. Some of the best material is on the DVD.

The Hot Pockets is the funniest one, I think. Hot pockets still come up now and then in our conversations. I'm not sure why something so simple ended up funny. The way he said it, how it relates to the rest of the show. He doesn't tell jokes, he doesn't go into long stories. He simply discusses every-day thoughts which relate primarily to food. And it's not fat jokes either, or jokes about the food. He makes it interesting and thought provoking.

Although the act wasn’t too terribly funny when we watched the show, it left a lasting impression on us. I would probably watch this particular skit again in the future and I would definitely check out future DVD’s by this comedian.






Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older