Creators:
Rob Dyrdek
Christopher Boykin
Jeff Tremaine
Ruben Fleischer
Cast:
Rob Dyrdek ………. Himself
Christopher “Big Black” Boykin ………. Himself
“Drama” ………. Himself
“Meaty” ………. Itself
“Mini Horse” ………. Itself
The Show
Skateboarding has become extremely popular in the last 15 years, especially with people between the ages of 14 and 24. Coincidentally, that demographic is the key one for MTV. It creates shows that targets that audience first. So it shouldn’t be a big surprise that reality shows featuring famous skateboarders have been popping up on MTV in recent years. It really started with Jackass, then a spin-off into Viva La Bam featuring Bam Magera. Recently, Life of Ryan featuring young Ryan Sheckler has become a hit show. But perhaps the biggest hit show featuring a skateboarder, and certainly a surprise hit at that, is Rob & Big.
Rob Dyrdek is a professional skateboarder. He’s been doing that since he was 16. He has his own line of clothes and skate stuff. This is the only job he has ever had. However, he finds it hard to skate in the streets, which he is known for since it’s illegal to “street skate” in most places. Enter Christopher “Big Black” Boykin. “Big Black” became Rob’s bodyguard. He’s 6’5″ and around 400 lbs. Now they live together in a cool house in Los Angeles. They are best friends. They are Rob & Big.
In addition to Rob & Big, their “family” consists of “Drama”, Rob’s cousin and personal assistant. They also have two pets. The first one, a bulldog named “Meaty” was introduced in season one. In the second season, they introduced a new pet in a miniature horse named “Mini Horse”. That sounds just as absurd as it looked on TV. But somehow all of this works. Probably because it all goes back to Rob & Big themselves.
This show is like the modern day version of “The Odd Couple”. Even though Jeff Tremaine helped create this show, and he also had a part in Jackass and Viva La Bam, this is really nothing like those shows. While those shows relied heavily on practical jokes and mostly crazy, physical stunts to provide its comedy, Rob & Big is all about the relationships between the people on the show. Rob and Big are both extremely funny people, and the things they do are pretty hysterical. There are some stunts on this show, but they are few and far between.
Season one was a good introduction to this odd pairing. But really this show just got better in season two with the addition of some other recurring “characters” on the show including Big Black’s crazy Uncle Jerry. This entire collection is loaded with special features including commentaries from Rob & Big on every single episode from the first two seasons. That is something you rarely see these days. You can tell that they are real best friends, and they would probably be doing the same things even if there were no cameras around. This DVD set is marked as “uncensored”, but really what that means is some of the “bleeped” language is “unbleeped”, but mainly only in the special features.
Rob & Big was a surprise comedy hit for MTV. Rob is a professional skateboarder and there is definitely a lot of things that skateboarding fans can enjoy, but at the heart of this show is Rob Dyrdek and Christopher “Big Black” Boykins. Their interaction with each other and others around them are what really make this show hilarious. While other shows starring professional skateboarders can get old really quickly as you watch them do the same stunts and jokes over and over again, Rob & Big always keeps things fresh and entertaining as we watch to see what crazy things Rob and Big will do and, more importantly, say.
Episodes:
Disc One (Season One):
Episode 1 – Moving In
Rob & Big adopt a bulldog puppy that they later name “Meaty”. They then have a party for the dog moving in.
Episode 2 – Go Skate Day
Rob tries to get Big Black and Meaty to skate and Rob has a DC Shoes Demo.
Episode 3 – Travel
Rob and Big go to Canada to be in a EA Sports skating game and Rob visits his parents in Ohio.
Episode 4 – Let’s Get Physical
Rob tries to help Big Black lose weight.
Episode 5 – Happy Birthday
Big thows a birthday party for Rob.
Disc Two (Season One):
Episode 6 – Making the House a Home
Rob and Big re-decorate their house and add a skate park in their back yard.
Episode 7 – Blind Date
Rob and Big go on blind dates.
Episode 8 – Do Work
Big learns how to protect Rob better.
Disc Three (Season Two):
Episode 1 – Meaty & Mini
Rob and Big buy mini horse.
Episode 2 – Time Travel
Rob and Big want to travel back in time.
Episode 3 – Mississippi
Rob and Big go to Mississippi for Big Black’s family reunion. While in Mississippi, Rob tries his hand at bull riding and cutting trees for wood pulp. At the family reunion, Rob takes part in the three-legged race with Big’s uncle, Jerry.
Episode 4 – New Assistant
Drama, Rob’s cousin and assistant, starts slacking on his job. So Rob threatens to fire him and replace with a “professional assistant”. Meanwhile, Mini Horse goes wild.
Episode 5 – Black Lavender
Big Black gets a chance to try his hand at his old profession as a male stripper.
Disc Four (Season Two):
Episode 6 – Tampa
Rob and Big travel to Tampa for a skate competition.
Episode 7 – Bobby Light
Rob makes a music video as “Bobby Light”.
Episode 8 – New Cars
Rob & Big give away an SUV.
The Video:
The video is given in fullscreen color with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Transfer is good with minimal distortion. The quality is a little better than what you would find on television. No major problems at all. You really can’t expect much more than this for a MTV show.
The Audio:
The audio included is available in English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound. There are subtitles available in English as well. It’s pretty standard quality for a TV show as well. The dialogue comes out crisp and clear.
The Extras:
Audio Commentaries –
Rob Dyrdek, Christopher Boykin, Jeff Tremaine, and Ruben Fleischer (creators) comment on all 16 episodes from seasons 1 and 2. This are highly entertaining. For the most part, Rob & Big provide the most material with Jeff and Ruben just trying to keep things moving and provide insight when needed.
“Special Meaty Puppy Footage” Featurette –
This is a little over 3 minutes of Meaty as a puppy and Rob & Big meeting him for the first time. Basically, since we only saw him as a puppy in the very first episode, this is more footage of him as a puppy.
Deleted Scenes –
There is 45 minutes worth of stuff that didn’t make the first season of the show. There is also 30 minutes worth of stuff that didn’t make the second season of the show. All of it is extremely funny, so check these out for sure.
“Rob & Big: The Real Deal” Featurette –
This featurette runs 30 minutes and it’s basically your “making of” featurette. Rob & Big discuss their history with each other and how the show came to be. Very informative and interesting as most of this stuff has never been talked about before.
Skake Tutorials –
Rob Dyrdek spends 10 minutes to teach the viewers how to do certain skateboard tricks. He explains how to do a “Frontside Boardslide”, a “Nose Blunt”, a “Frontside Lipslide”, a “Nose Grind”, a “Tail Slide”, a “Blunt to Fakie”, a “Smith Grind”, and a “Backside Nose Grind”. Skateboarding fans will enjoy this.
Interviews –
This is basically 30 minutes of extra interviews with Rob & Big expanding on certain subjects featured on every episode, except one, of the first season. This does overlap with the “Rob & Big: The Real Deal” featurette quite a bit, but there is some new stuff sprinkled throughout.
“Dirty Girl” Music Video –
This is Rob’s music video as “Bobby Light”. It’s the full-length three minute and a half minute video. Very funny.
MTV Cribs Appearance –
This is Rob & Big’s 7 minute segment on an episode of MTV Cribs. We not only get to see more of their house, we also get to see their cars as well.
Special Mini Footage –
This is two minutes of nothing but “Mini Horse” stuff like the “Meaty” stuff earlier.
Special Uncle Jerry Footage –
This is three and a half minutes of nothing but Uncle Jerry craziness.
“Best of Season 2” Featurette –
This is basically what it says. It’s basically the “clip show” or “recap show” or just a “best of” episode for season two. It originally aired on MTV, but it is just the highlights of the entire season. You have seen this all before, but Rob & Big break do break down their favorite moments from the second season.
This is one of the funniest MTV reality shows ever. It’s right up there with Run’s House. There is no real drama on this show and the comedy doesn’t get old after repeated viewings. Rob & Big are just two likable guys that you can’t help but laugh at. For fans of the show, you have to buy this. It’s loaded with enough special features that there are hours of material you can watch besides the actual episodes. You should at least rent it and give it a chance, if you haven’t seen it yet.
