First of all, I have to say I do admire Carlos Oscar for being more a family-friendly comedian. He never curses, vents about sex, and all those other hot-button topics comedians love to tackle. With that said, it unfortunately doesn't help his deeply flawed act.

Now, I'm no comedy snob. I enjoy everything from Laurel and Hardy to Harold and Kumar. But, Oscar did not cause me to muster up much laughter. As I stated in my review of Gabriel Iglesias's special, modern comedians over-rely on age old jokes. Do we really need to hear another rant about how wives (like Oscar's) love to shop and blame men for everything? Do we need another tale of the crazy step-mother who loves to stir up trouble? No!

Aside from his stale material, the main flaw of Oscar's act is his inability to stay on track. For example, Oscar starts up one sentence, stops mid-way, and starts another sentence. I don't know if his mind wanders or if he doesn't want to lose his train of thought, but the jokes come off sloppy, which makes following his act more trouble than it's worth. Piling onto this problem, Oscar takes way too long to set-up jokes. Instead of giving us the quick cliff notes version of the a story/joke, we get the complete rambling text. By the time he arrives at the punchline, you won't care.

Oscar also has zero stage presence. Aside from standing up a few times to grab a bottle of water, Oscars sits in a chair for the entire hour-long program. Granted, Oscar is not a physical comedian, but he should at least stand up and walk around as comedians often do. Surprise the audience a bit Oscar!

The funniest aspect of this special had nothing to do with Oscar, but with the audience. The audience reaction was bar-none the quietest I have ever heard during a head-lining comedy gig. They rarely erupted into laughter and most jokes were greeted with faint applause. When the show ended, only a few people stood up right away to give Oscar a standing ovation. 20-30 seconds later, the hesitant audience rose to their feet.

The DVD

Video:
The widescreen video had some color outline on Oscar, but overall the picture was free of defects and looked better-than-average for a stand-up special.

Sound: The Dolby Digital Stereo is pleasing enough. Since the crowd was dead, Oscar's dialogue is perfectly level.

Extras: First up is the option to play the special with English or French subtitles. I have no idea why Spanish subs are excluded as they appear on nearly every disk. Next up- "Carlos Oscar On His Funny Life And Stand-up Inspirations." In this featurette, Oscar reveals background information such as how his father inspired his work, where he grew up, etc. Rounding out the extras, a useless "Crazy Good Backstage Crew Interview," where Oscar pesters cameramen, a carpenter, and a production assistant.

Final Thoughts:
As I didn't laugh more than a handful of times, I cannot suggest a rental let alone a purchase. If you're really in the mood for a stand-up comedy special, do yourself a favor by watching a comedian you already know is funny. That way you can't set yourself up to be disappointed and you're guaranteed to laugh.

Film and television enthusiast Nick Lyons recently had his first book published titled "Attack of the Sci-Fi Trivia." It is available on Amazon.com.