|
|
 |
Comedy Central Roast Of Flavor Flav (TV)
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (25th February 2008). |
|
The Film
 Another year another roast, in previous years the Comedy Central panel had the pleasure of roasting Pamela Anderson and William Shatner (you can read the review for the Shatner roast here), this year the honor goes to once-upon-a-time-rapper and current reality TV star and just plain bat-shit crazy Flavor Flav. Flav gained popularity as part of the rap group Public Enemy, he was outspoken and a little excitable. His trademark look includes the giant clock around his neck, occasionally wearing a Viking helmet and running around with a giant pimp cup usually adorned with crystals and having his name on it. His catch phrase 'Yeah Boy!' has been mimicked over and over again by the young and impressionable. In recent years the aging rapper has appeared on reality TV including his own show "Flavor of Love" (2006) where he looks for love as a group of young trashy women look for their 15 minutes vying for attention and a chance at winning some money. Its one in hundreds of reality shows that pollute the airwaves. Although Flav's show can be considered the bottom of the barrel in terms of artistic merit the train wrecks that are the contestants provide some entertainment value, and Flav has some impact on popular culture, perhaps more so now as a washed-up rapper than he ever did as a rapper in his heyday. His style and personality make him an easy target for the roasters and what ensues is over an hour of profane hilarity. The panel is made of fellow rappers and comedians who take the podium to dish out insults at the guest of honor, it doesn't stop there however as they take the time to rip into each other as well. From this you can learn a lot about the panel for example the show's host Katt Williams is frequently hit up about his size, Snoop Dogg gets the obvious marijuana-related jabs, Ice-T is old, Carrot Top looks like a botched sex change operation, Jimmy Kimmel is the least funny white guy on TV, Lisa Lampanelli is a loose whore that likes to have sex with black guys, Brigitte Nielsen is a washed up hag that had sex with Flav when no one else would and apparently has a giant vagina, Greg Giraldo tries too hard and never gets anywhere, Jeffery Ross looks like a down-syndrome Hobbit, Patton Oswalt is just so unmemorable I can't recall what people said about him (and I watched this DVD only a few hours ago) and who the hell is Sommore anyway? Usually the Comedy Central Roasts are a good time; the key to enjoying it is to not take offense because this show is filled to the brim with profanity, sex jokes that cross every line imaginable and the dreaded 'N' word spoken multiple times during the broadcast. I have no idea how the network aired this because over 70% of the show must have been bleeped out. Greg Giraldo steps up first and delivers probably the best roast of the group, taking his time to address just about everyone and dropping his own 'N' bomb without any gasp from the audience. Kimmel does a great job of taking snack to the "Flavor of Love" girls (ahem..."whores") in the audience to humorous effect. In fact almost all roasters did a great job, some better than others as expected the actual comedians are more polished and witty than others on the panel. Brigitte Nielsen was terrible, Ice-T was average with a few funny jokes and Sommore was as forgettable as Patton Oswalt is. Snoop Dogg was the real surprise of the show with a funny roast that showcases the Dogg-father's sense of humor and he caps it off with a little rhyme. Overall it was a good show with some very funny lines thrown out; however for a roast that's aimed at Flav there was more ribbing of the panel going on than the guest of honor, I suppose it's really hard to roast someone that's already a walking joke. Overall the show is offensive, tasteless and uncensored so if you're a bit touchy about foul language why are you even reading this review? Go find something wholesome and boring.
Video
Presented in the show's original broadcast ratio of 1.33:1 this transfer is crisp and sharp. The colors are vibrant and rich, blacks are a bold and there was no dirt whatsoever. Some very minor shimmering can be seen but otherwise it's a competent transfer that shows off the program well.
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track is includes, that's all we really require here as this doesn't need a dynamic sound mix. The dialogue is clear and distortion free, the music cues were a bit loud but otherwise just like the transfer this soundtrack is more than adequate. The disc does not feature any optional subtitles.
Extras
Paramount has included an interview clip, four short featurettes, a series of Comedy Central quickies and a series of bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up we've got "Red Carpet Interviews" footage that runs for 33 minutes 22 seconds. Here we have some guy named Vargus Mason interviewing the veritable who's who of "who's that?", mostly boring as hell, in this clip the comedian asks a bunch of attendees (it's too much to call them stars or celebrities really) a bunch of questions that no one cares about. Next is "Backstage Pass Pre-Show", a featurette that runs for 52 seconds, the roasters get ready for the big show, that's about it. Following that is "Backstage Pass Post-Show" a featurette that runs for 1 minute 1 second and features comments from the roasters after the show, some of this ended up in the credits. "Flavor Flav Gives a Tour" is a featurette that runs for 51 seconds as the rapper gives us a tour of his trailer. "Flavor-Cam" is the final featurette that runs for 6 minutes 17 seconds and we get to see Flav doing his thing before the show and so on from a camera placed in his giant clock around his neck. The footage is shaky and mostly uninteresting. The disc also features 4 Comedy Central Quickies, these are highlights from other shows seen on the network and include: - "The Colbert Report: Breast" which runs for 1 minute 26 seconds. - "Lil'Bush: Lil'Kim Jong-il" which runs for 2 minutes 38 seconds. - "The Sarah Silverman Program: Date with God" which runs for 2 minutes 38 seconds. - "South Park: Leprechaun" which runs for 2 minutes 34 seconds. Rounding out the extras on this disc are a collection of bonus trailers for: - "South Park: Season 10" which runs for 1 minute 19 seconds. - "Drawn Together: Season 2" which runs for 1 minute 27 seconds. - "The Best of Chappelle Show Uncensored" which runs for 1 minute 29 seconds. - "The Sarah Silverman Program: Season 1" which runs for 1 minute 23 seconds.
Overall
|
|||||
|