Best of an Evening at the Improv

The Best Of An Evening At The Improv is an interesting 4 disc collection of archive stand up shows from top name comedians and comedians who we know, but who never made the big time. Some of the bigger names include Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Jerry Seinfeld, and Bill Maher.

 

What’s interesting about this collection is that instead of keeping openers and main stand ups together as they were originally, the set divides them up into two options. You can either skip the host opener or you can keep them attached. Also included is an option for musical guests. At one point I had wished that they would have just kept the full night together, but at other times I realized that some of the opening hosts were terrible. 

 

Mind you this collection of stand up shows comes at you from decades ago so some of the material is dated. What I enjoyed about the collection was seeing which of these comics, among the many, actually were literally ahead of their time. Very few give performances that stand the test of time, but you start to realize that jokes aren’t the only winning aspect in the comedy formula. Seinfeld, a comedian who I only knew from his hit show, and barely watched, surprised me. His comedy was pretty much universal and didn’t tether itself down to the times (hardly). He played upon the audience, often times made jokes about New York traffic and what not that still exists to this day, and his delivery was memorable. Not much has changed from back then to his show, but he stood out. 

 

I think because I kind of grew up with a lot of these stars; Billy Crystal (The Princess Bride, Forget Paris), Robin Williams (Mork & Mindy, Death To Smoochy), Michael Keaton (Mr. Mom, The Other Guys), etc- I was able to grasp the era and where these comedians were coming from, especially their delivery. 

 

Obviously if I showed this show to my kids they’d probably hate it. It’s not a pretty picture compared to the film technology being used on their generation. The audio leaves a lot to be desired considering the awesome sound options coming out of the industry right now (I think The Expendables 2 has something like a 12.1 surround sound track). Other then that these guys are out of fashion, mostly unrecognizable to the youth, and wait till they flash the camera towards the big haired, pant suit, Tootsie glasses wearing audience. Yikes. Still, if you’re old enough to know who these stand up comedians are, even their hosts, you’ll more then likely find some entertainment out of this massive collection.