Executive Producers:
Russell Simmons, Stan Lathan
Cast:
Volume 1
Martin Lawrence, Kid Capri, Dave Chappelle, Maestro, Chocolate, D.L. Hughley, Sheryl Underwood, Warren Hutcherson, Garfield and Chris Tucker
Volume 2
Steve Harvey, Kid Capri, Capital “J”, Rich Vos, Arnez J., Jack Shepherd, Chocolate and James Hannah
Volume 1
Jamie Foxx, Kid Capri, Affion, Corey Holcomb and Barbara Carlyle
The Show:
Ever wonder what the early standup routines of Dave Chappelle, D.L. Hughley and Rich Vos were like? Well, HBO has decided to let you find out with Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam Classics. And… well, there’s a lot of “black” humour here, and you find that after a while, you find your attention drifting elsewhere. But what you do get here are glimpses as to why some comedians hit it big, and others still work the comedy circuit. Still, it makes me appreciate shows like Just For Laughs, which tries to showcase a variety of acts from all over.
In addition to the comedy, you get a quick skit called “Bowl of Pork” starring Dave Chappelle, which is actually a lot better than his standup in this set. You definitely get a feel for what he’d end up doing later on Comedy Central.
Overall… I dunno. Maybe I’m not the best guy to have reviewed this DVD. I have no problem with racial comedy (provided it’s not done by Dat Phan), but again, it’s just too much to take in at one time.
The DVD:
Video:
(Presented in Fullscreen Format)
Nothing looks washed out, so that’s good enough here.
Audio:
(English 2.0)
You can hear every profanity uttered. And there’s a lot of it, so if you don’t like to hear people swearing, you may want to skip this set.
Special Features:
Audio Commentaries – Russell Simmons and Bob Sumner provide commentary, which often has nothing to do with the actual acts. Which would be annoying if they weren’t doing commentary for standup comedy, but since they are, I’ve got no problem with it. Also, are you really gonna tell Russell Simmons not to do what he wants here?
The Inside Pulse
Not bad, not great, just middle of the road. There’s better comedy out there.
