"So, the funny thing about child pornography... I mean, aside from the lack of credits at the end ..." If that's the kind of joke you like to hear at the beginning of an hour of comedy then Doug Stanhope's From Across The Street is for you. I'm not going to bother reviewing it in any depth - reviews of comedy are even less useful than reviews of films and music. It will do to simply point out what you're getting into, as I think that opener does.
Taste in comedy is subjective, and there's no point in trying to convince people of a comic's genius if they're not predisposed to like a certain style or type of material. The response to a joke is immediate and visceral, and there's no intellectual argument for why someone should appreciate it if she doesn't. Anyone who thinks Larry The Cable Guy is the greatest comic ever isn't going to be turned on to Rick Shapiro in the same way as, say, someone might eventually convince me that musicals are worth watching or that reggae isn't the most tedious, monotonous form of music ever invented. There's still the possibility that, with age, the proper tutelage, and the right drugs, I could be converted to musicals or reggae, but I will never pay to see Jeff Dunham.
I recently watched 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians, yet another ridiculous attempt to rank funny. This production is British, so rather than George Carlin or Richard Pryor coming in at #1, it was Billy Connelly. Fair enough, but it just proves the point that you can't change people's minds about who they should laugh at more. I think Connelly is funny, at least when I can understand what's coming out of his Scottish haggis-hole, but for my money, he's no Carlin. The show did make me want to go to the UK, though, where they toss around the word "cunt" like it's a Frisbee. It's like Rivendell for comics.
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