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Jimmy Dore: Citizen Jimmy
R1 - America - Image Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jeremiah Chin (5th August 2008). |
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The Show
 Stand-up comedy lives in fairly dangerous territory, something many people can do, something that almost entirely comes down to taste and something few people can do well. Very few people become universally liked in comedy, most comedians say something that someone doesn’t like, but there’s some new trend about being the “ohhhh I said it” comedian. Even some of the un-funniest insult comics don’t spend that much time talking about how extreme they are, while people like Carlos Mencia have made careers about cracking non-funny jokes and just talking about how edgy they are. In his latest special, “Citizen Jimmy” comedian Jimmy Dore comes dangerously close to being too obsessed with his own wit or offensiveness, but thankfully nowhere near the unbearable level of Mencia. Dore runs the gamut of political topics, from Barack Obama to Ronald Reagan, at times playing up his obvious political knowledge and at others playing dumb for comic effect. Overall he comes off as smarmy, but it can be too much. With shows like “The Daily Show” (1996-Present) and “The Colbert Report” (2005-Present) reigning over the fake news and general talk show worlds, especially for college students, Dore tries to hit the same audience, but lacks a lot of the wit or cleverness of those large and genius writing staffs. His presence on the stage is fairly well commanded, and the directing of the special does a fine job of showing it, but there’s honestly not much to watch other than the comedian tell jokes. You can’t direct around it unless you have pre-recorded sketches or bits to play during the routine, which Dore does not have. Instead it’s about 55 minutes of Jimmy Dore, for better or for worse. In terms of jokes, he seems to just go over a lot of the jokes that have already been made, often times jokes that have been made much funnier. But that’s the risk he takes in putting out a political/current events routine, unless the jokes are pure Bill Hicks/Richard Pryor level gold, current event jokes don’t stand the test of time. There are a few nuggets that made me smile, but nothing I see people trying to imitate at parties once the subject of standup comedians comes up. The disc and special don’t offer much, unless you’re a Jimmy Dore fan, or just need to hear about how George W. Bush is a really easy president to make fun of or don’t know what Barack Obama’s middle name is and want to hear someone else try to turn that into a funny joke, best not check out the special.
Video
Presented in 1.78:1 widescreen ratio, it gets a fairly good treatment going from television to DVD. The colors look right, the lighting looks good, it’s not too grainy, overall just a well done transfer. Unfortunately, visually there’s not much to watch in the routine besides Dore walk around the screen for an hour, followed by some credits.
Audio
Presented primarily in English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (or Dolby Digital 5.0 according to the audio menu) the special sounds fine, but much like the visuals there’s not much there other than Dore and the crowd. For a live recording, it’s done well and the audio quality holds up fairly well, the levels of the crowd laughter or cheering don’t interfere with Dore’s audio, and the transfer is fine. There are no optional subtitles available on this disc.
Extras
No extras at all.
Overall
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