From the sociological standpoint, the collection is kind of interesting, a bit of a time capsule. What did people wear and what the hell did they do with their hair? What were they talking about at the time? That's a part of the problem, though. Much comedy turns on current events, both large and small. What was funny in the mid-1980's does not necessarily remain relevant 20 years later. One exception was Chris Rock's appearance in 1998. His riff on the impeachment of President Clinton was an inspired bit of truth-telling enveloped in invectives and remains as sharp a critique of the event as you'll find. But then, it was only ten years ago, and I remember how I felt about the impeachment very clearly. The relevance of Rock's set for me, then, is a product of the amount of time passing (not as much) and how big the news was (international).
Comic Relief was a series of benefit shows, and a part of what makes benefit shows work is the emotion of the moment. I'm sure most of America was transfixed when the 9/11 telethon America: a Tribute to Heroes aired, but watching it now would be a different experience altogether. A part of allure is watching famous people donate their time to a cause and being able to participate in that cause as a viewer. When watching a compilation DVD, there's no way to be involved. And the DVD does a poor job of putting the causes in political or chronological context.
In fact, producer Shout! Factory did not add much to help the viewer. The first DVD, with highlights of shows from 1986-1998, does nothing to guide you when watching start to finish. There are no cues when it moves from one year to the next; for this, you need the main menu, which offers you chapter selections and a performer index. The chapter selection tells you the name of each show and the year they aired. The performer index tells you whose appearances you will find in each show. But the two don't interact; you can't select a name and then go to the performance; you just have to keep track of who appeared when and hope you will recognize them when they appear.
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Article comments
1 - Todd Jackson
I could say a lot of nice things about stand-up and the Comic Relief set - there's a fair amount of great material there for people who do enjoy stand-up.
But I want to correct a factual error about your assumption as to why the audiences are laughing at the specials you see on Comedy Central. For most of the Comedy Central produced specials there is no alcohol served. (Other specials perhaps, but it's still less than you're assuming.) Alcohol isn't necessarily much of a factor for why they're laughing.
I can't speak for an entire crowd, but at many of the stand-up shows I've attended - both for and not for broadcast - there are people laughing and there are people not laughing. People are a lot less sheeplike that you'd think about laughter. It's a visceral response that's hard to fake. The ones who are laughing are doing it because they're having a good time.
I can understand assuming that an audience might be a little off in some way if they're enjoying something you do not - a particular movie or TV show. But if you're making that generalization about audiences of an entire genre or art form (i.e. stand-up), the asusmption should be that that genre or art form is not for you.
In other words, stand-up may not be your bag. Nothing wrong with that. It just ain't your thing.