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John Oliver: Terrifying Times - Extended & Uncensored
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jeremiah Chin (13th October 2008). |
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The Show
 While the current economy is in a downspin (topical for those of you reading this months or years later), there’s one solid, dependable thing that I can know for certain. “The Daily Show” (1996-Present) doesn’t employ un-funny people. At least within Jon Stewart’s tenure. By logical deduction and laws of transference then, recent “Daily Show” addition John Oliver is not un-funny. His new comedy central special “John Oliver: Terrifying Times” confirms that yes, logic does work. His stand-up routine is mostly traditional stand-up, aided by a large projector in the background throwing up images in accordance with his routine. Sometimes Oliver is joined by friend and fellow comedian Andy Zaltsman, giving some expert analysis on whatever Oliver’s subject matter is about. Oliver runs the gamut of jokes, mostly political, with some good historical comedy teasing the U.S. audience that they could have had beautiful British accents if we hadn’t just thrown their tea in the harbor. The production values on the special are fairly high, especially for a Comedy Central special, but given that this performance is an hourlong special rather than just a ‘Comedy Central Presents’ episode it makes sense. The use of images by Oliver and the camera coverage are well used, putting out some clever jokes and an overall funny routine. However even though he makes some good jokes and is funny during the routine, nothing’s so incredibly hilarious that it needs to be repeated or that can make you laugh just by thinking about it. Overall, “John Oliver: Terrifying Times” is a solid stand-up special that has some good laughs and some clever humor, but just doesn’t reach the point of being hilarious or breaking over the edge to really memorable comedy. What’s there is good, and worth a laugh in watching, but there’s not a ton of value in rewatching over and over again, you may be better off watching some of Oliver’s segments on “The Daily Show.”
Video
The entire special is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, the same widescreen that the special originally aired in and the transfer looks good. There’s some nice colors and lighting in the stage production with the way that Oliver uses slides and images that looks good. The lighting doesn’t make it feel overly bright and keeps the mood of a theatre, with an overall good transfer on the routine.
Audio
Presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, the special sounds right and the transfer sounds as it should. There’s a good amount of laughter from the audience that’s sometimes a little too loud and almost out of balance with the audio from the stage, even for a live routine video, however it’s not really that noticeable or annoying. Otherwise the levels are fine, and the music used is fine too, but nothing all too spectacular. There are no subtitles available on this disc.
Extras
The disc is well loaded with special features, including a couple of featurettes and some clips from Oliver’s stints on "The Daily Show" as well as some Comedy Central quickies and bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. There’s a section of clips for “John’s Appearances on the Daily Show” which feature four segments that he worked on, which include: - “N Word” runs for 5 minutes and 6 seconds. Oliver and Larry Wilmore conduct a hilarious investigation on the use of the ‘N word’ and talk with New York City Council members and some funny street interviews. - “Tortured Logic” runs for 4 minutes and 4 seconds. Oliver appears as the Senior Torture Correspondent to talk about the United States’ policy on torture, or in nicer words “Enhanced Interrogation.” - “Political Theatre” runs for 6 minutes and 9 seconds. Oliver appears as "The Daily Show’s" Political Theatre Critic as he criticizes the congressional session based on the acting performances of the senators. - “Banned-Aid” runs for 2 minutes and 45 seconds. John reports as the Senior Healthcare Analyst as a 19th century London street-urchin in support of Bush’s plan to cut healthcare for children. “John at the UCB Theatre in New York” featurette runs for 28 minutes and 45 seconds. Oliver performs some additional Stand-up at UCB theatre in preparation for his BBC radio show “Political Animals.” This added segment has some funny jokes that were left out of his routine at the actual special, in addition to some offhanded comments backstage as he talks about preparing for his performance and the featurettes. “John & Andy On…” runs for 8 minutes and 58 seconds. Oliver and Zaltzman talk about Democracy, Great Britain, "The Daily Show" and a variety of other topics, presumably for their radio show. There’s some good back and forth banter and it’s a good example of their comedy show and is funny in its own right. Also Included are the 3 Comedy Central quickies which are a set of clips from other Comedy Central Shows which pretty much serve the same purpose as trailers, but without any kind of voice-over: - “The Daily Show – Marines In Berkeley” runs for 2 minutes and 31 seconds. Rob Riggle reports on the protests in Berkeley over the Marines Recruiting station. - “Reno 911! – Terry’s Fiancée” runs for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The Sheriff department talks to Terry, who is accused of male prostitution, while he waits to be picked up by his girlfriend. - “The Colbert Report – Tip/Wag Afghanistan” runs for 2 minutes and 9 seconds. Colbert satirizes Bush’s comments on being envious of the multiple tours of duty the armed forces are being asked to perform. There are also a series of start-up bonus trailers for: - “South Park: The Complete Eleventh Season” runs for 1 minute and 19 seconds. - “Kenny vs. Spenny: Volume One” runs for 1 minute 25 seconds. - “Comedy Central’s TV Funhouse” runs for 1 minute and 33 seconds.
Overall
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