The second DVD has nearly the complete show for 2006, which was staged to help victims of Hurricane Katrina and rebuild New Orleans. This DVD's chapters are actually an index of performances that allows you to choose which ones to watch. The "extras" are parts of the telethon left out of the main presentation on the DVD: non-comedy stories about New Orleans, Billy Crystal's tribute to the city, Wayne Brady's improv rap song from a stage in New Orleans, and the introduction of celebrities involved in "Comic Relief Wild," the next planned show. (After a cursory search of the web, I could not verify that this show has ever taken place.) I guess if you only want to watch comedians, some of the "extras" would make you impatient. But they are just parts of the show that were cut from the main sequence. I think it would have been fine to include them and actually provide some traditional DVD extras, like interviews or behind-the-scenes footage, both of which are completely lacking.
So, in my opinion, only Comic Relief devotees and historians of humor need apply for watching these DVDs. I would love to know if someone most devoted to the form of stand-up comedy would disagree. Actually, I hope they would. Someone should say something nice.
.jpg?t=20130517094513)
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.