The Original Kings of Comedy

Release Date: Aug 18th, 2000

Cast :

Director: Spike Lee

Concert films present an interesting and difficult enigma for movie reviewers.  How can a movie without a discernible plot, character development, or a set beginning or ending, be critiqued?  The answer lies in the delivery and presentation of the material covered.  The reviews become an analysis of what is delivered, and how well the ambiance of the concert is captured and presented on film.  The Original Kings of Comedy is Spike Lee’s first foray into this, and as he usually does, Lee pays tribute to what has influenced and molded his life, and film making style.  This is a hard hitting, bitterly fun, yet slightly over done (another Lee trademark) attempt to capture the magic of Richard Pryor:Live on the Sunset Strip and Eddie Murphy’s Raw and Delirious.  He succeeds in making a movie that, depending on sensitivities, open-mindedness and ethnic knowledge, will either be the funniest film you’ve seen all year, or the most abrasive and offensive.  In the end, the desired effect of entertainment is achieved, but a tighter package of delivery would have made this a truly complete entertainment package.

The film covers the most successful comedy tour in history.  The footage of the Kings was taken over a two-night period at a concert in Charlotte North Carolina.  The Kings in this lineup consist of four comedians, each with their own distinct style and material, but all seemingly based in the same area of humor.  The Master of Ceremonies is the soulful “old school” Steve Harvey, star of UPN’s The Steve Harvey Show.  He is by far the most consistently funny of any of the performers, getting off epic routines on everything from sports (Charlotte’s own Rae Carruth, who Harvey states, must have been the worst player of hide and seek in his class) to the Titanic (what black band is gonna keep playing with the ship sinking) and ultimately to an imitation and tribute to old school music vs. todays hip hop.  Harvey is the glue that holds each of the performers together, combining the best of each in his act.  He is abrasive, as when he lambastes an audience member, but introspective when discussing the racial diversities.  These are a common topic among the comics, and in the end become their downfall.  The lineup continues with D.L. Hughley, who relates experiences from his family to Jesus’s miracle of water into wine.  Then to, Cedric the Entertainer (who warms up operatically, then combines music and dancing into a set that also includes a clarification of hope vs. wish, and finally to Bernie Mac, easily the most abrasive of the four, the theme is common, and funny, but overdone unless you can relate.  The key to success on Lee’s part would have been to trim a bit of the material down, and tone things a bit, so that the jokes wouldn’t seem like reworded versions of the same joke.  As is usually the case (Summer of Sam, Jungle Fever, Crooklyn) Lee doesn’t quite know when and where to stop things.  Each of these comics deserves their own special, but two hours of similar styles wears a tad thin on those who cannot and do not relate.  Lee does succeed in realizing who the stars are, and what the focus of the film should be.  The lion’s share of screen time is given to the performances, with only cursory pre and post routines shown to show the humanity and reality of the comics.  Also effective are the relational shots to local residents and crowd shots whenever certain jokes were directed at a race or type.  Lee walks the fine line between social satirization and outright racism, by never driving the nail fully in, but the continual hammering does wear a tad bit.  Overall though, if the audience gets into it, and lets their guards and inhibitions down, this is one of the funniest, and purest movies of the year.  It successfully taps into the essence of what makes us laugh, the ability to look at reality around us, and find the silver lined humorous side amidst the stress and madness.

Ultimately, The Original Kings of Comedy is a refreshing comedy for adults amidst the abyss of garbage that has populated the summer movie season.  The movies success is proportional to how well the audience can relate to the situations and social commentary presented.  The film is funny, abrasive, insightful, but a bit over the top.  I have to be honest, I have not laughed this hard at a movie in a very long time, but by the end, I did grow a bit weary.  By trimming about 5 minutes off of each routine, Lee could have had a powerhouse concert film that might have been mentioned in the same breath with the films that inspired it.  These are the current kings of comedy (where is Dave Chappelle though!) however they still live in the shadows of the masters.  A shadow that Spike Lee pays tribute too, laughs along side of, but quite reaches. ($$$ out of $$$$)

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