THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY (2000) / * 1/2
Directed by Spike Lee. Starring Steve Harvey, DL Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, Bernie Mac. Running time: 115 minutes. Rated AA for mature subject matter and coarse language by the MFCB. Reviewed on September 12th, 2000.
By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN
"Dying is easy, comedy is hard."
That's a cliche, to be sure, but it's also true. Much of it comes from the fact that the act of killing is reasonably straightforward, whereas making people laugh is considerably more elusive. And, by extension, it's because while being dead is a pretty objective state (certain metaphysical concerns notwithstanding), being funny is a lot more personal and subjective. What I find absolutely uproarious might be stupid or silly or just plain boring to somebody else. Sense of humour is as individual as we are.
As such, I will not really attempt to assess how funny "The Original Kings Of Comedy" is. I will merely indicate that I didn't find it at all amusing. Certainly, there were moments which elicited a few chuckles, but I spent most of the film's nearly two-hour duration sitting in my seat slack-jawed, wondering what I was missing. Because not only does the audience in the movie clearly love the act (it'd be a curious concert film otherwise!) but many others at the screening I attended got a kick out of it too. So the humour in the picture clearly has an appeal -- just not for me.
All that said, though, there are aspects of "The Original Kings Of Comedy" which are candidates for discussion and which are not quite so subjective as the quality (or lack thereof) of its humour. It is in many ways a very flawed undertaking and while those who appreciate its brand of comedy may be able to overlook this, it makes the experience all the more intolerable for those who do not.
"The Original Kings Of Comedy" is spliced together by director Spike Lee from two performances in Charlotte, on February 26th and 27th of this year. The show consists of four respected (if not exactly famous) black comedians plying their trade. DL Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac are presented in single individual segments running about thirty minutes each. Introducing each act is Steve Harvey, which is to basically say that Harvey gets three separate ten-minute blocks of stage time to put on his act instead of an unbroken half hour like the others. The picture is also peppered with brief behind-the-scenes clips which add little to the proceedings as a whole.
The film's major problem is the sheer lack of variety amongst the four comedians, virtually all of whose humour runs along similar lines. All four indulge in lots of "black people versus white people" commentary (which is often hilarious, but gets really tedious on its umpteenth iteration in the span of two hours). All four stay confined to very broad-based topics, largely eschewing any political or intellectual commentary. And all of them lace their monologues with an endless litany of profanity. Whereas the best comedians know to use swearing to punctuate their punchlines, here it is often used in place of one: a much lower brand of humour for sure.
Further, there is little insight offered through the jokes. There is a lot of racial content, but it mostly consists of potshots at Caucasians and/or African-Americans. Certainly, we are afforded only the barest of glimpses into what it is like to be a black man in America. These comedians are happy to talk about the world around them, but reveal precious little about themselves in the process. Most of the comedy is of sitcom variety, and while this is fine in half-hour doses on prime time television, it feels like an opportunity wasted in a major motion picture.
The comedian who comes closest to achieving some sort of relevance with his segment is Bernie Mac, who discusses the effects of his sister's drug habit on his family (he is now sharing custody of her three children with his brother-in-law). Unfortunately, Mac couches this portion of his monologue in exceedingly unpleasant jokes, constantly referring to his six year-old nephew as a "faggot" and talking about physically beating his own child. Mac's brand of humor is extremely edgy, maybe too much so; it makes for an uncomfortable performance which straddles the line between comedy and cruelty and, perhaps, goes a little too far.
Mac's half hour also illustrates the restrictions imposed by recording the film in a live environment. Mac has a thick accent (as does Cedric, to a lesser extent), and I found that the concert's sound facilities -- obviously a poor comparison with anything that would be taped in a studio -- often distorted his words to the point of unintelligibility. Lee is also occasionally forced to choose some rather poor camera angles, though in general he does a good job of setting things up to capture the performers at the best possible angles.
Of the four comedians, I found Harvey's material the best. This may have been aided by the fact that, alone amongst the quartet, his screentime is split up, so that he does not overstay his welcome. Intriguingly, Harvey's best material comes when he is adlibbing to the audience. For example, when a Rastafarian-looking man in the front row tells him that he's doing computer technology education, Harvey retorts that the last two words that come to his mind when he looks at the man are "technology"... or "education". He also has a few amusing rehearsed skits, like one about black people on the "Titanic".
But good gags like this are few and far between. I found "The Original Kings Of Comedy" to be an unpleasant morass, a sterile waste of a long two hours. Maybe my sense of humour just isn't geared in the right way. Maybe I'm not the demographic that the "Kings" are appealing to. I guess much the same reaction would be had if Newfoundland's comedy troupe Buddy Wassisname and the Other Fellers were dropped off in the South Bronx to do a show. If you understand the reference, I expect you'll see the point. If you don't understand the reference... well, maybe that makes the point, too.
Copyright © 2000 Shannon Patrick Sullivan. Archived at The Popcorn Gallery, http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies/OriginalKings.html
_______________________________________________________________________ / Shannon Patrick Sullivan | "We are all in the gutter, but some of us \ | shannon@mun.ca | are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde | \___________________________|__________________________________________/ | Popcorn Gallery Movie Reviews www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html | | Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel) /drwho.html |
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