Brian Regan is truly an original comic. He eschews the dirty stuff, and sticks to clean and physical humor. Although he bears a slight resemblance to Will Ferrell, his face is more reminiscent of early Jim Carrey in his ability to shape his facial expressions in such a way that sometimes they are funnier than the joke he is telling. He has an uncanny ability to convey his humor with a few wrinkles of his face and the crossing of his eyes.
The DVD
His new DVD, The Epitome of Hyberbole, is just that. He takes everyday experiences and exaggerates them into an almost life or death scenario, like being at a party and trying to lie your way through an in-depth conversation about art.
Party goer: “Do you like Monet?”
Regan: “Yes. As a matter of fact I spent lots of Monet in Par-ee.”
The one thing about Regan is he seems to have an endless supply of jokes inside his head. He hardly tells the same joke twice, or so it seems. There are jokes I’ve heard from his early days that are hilarious, but he seems to come up with new jokes just as funny every time he’s on stage. A lot of comedians cannot claim something like that, relying on the same material over and over.
What really sets Regan apart from other comics is his ability to not only tell jokes, but completely sell them with his face and body. He marches around stage like a man possessed, or just loaded with caffeine. He swings his body around to imitate a funny conversation. He crunches his face up to make his joke about manslaughter more menacing, and comical. He crouches down and walks slowly across the stage in exaggerated steps, explaining this is how a thief walks.
His performance on the DVD is just over 40 minutes long, enough to get a lot of good laughs, but just enough that he doesn’t wear out his welcome.
The Special Features
Here’s where the DVD lacks a bit. The encore is too short. Regan comes back on stage and does a bit where the audience can call out their favorites. He does the famous Walkie-Talkie and Dora the Explorer bit, which are both funny, but only last a couple of minutes, then he’s gone again. I would’ve liked to see a few more of the more famous bits.
There’s also a pretty interesting backstage featurette where you can see what it’s really like backstage at a Brian Regan show.
Ending Thoughts
I really enjoyed Regan’s performance on this DVD. Fans will love this DVD, but it may be hard for them to shell out the 12 bucks for something that is pretty lacking in the special features department.
But, if you’re just looking to laugh for 40 minutes, then this is the DVD for you. Invite all your friends over and have a night of comedy.
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