Personally, I am a HUGE fan of Britcom's and British culture in general, so it came as a big surprise and disappointment that this DVD was so flat. Apparently, the event was over three and a half hours long, and this epic show has been edited down to about 90 minutes. Surely, that must be the reason I found myself either bored or uncomprehending during a majority of this disc. Eddie Izzard, who has quickly become one of the most prominent British comedians today (along with Ricky Gervais), was spouting out nonsensical jokes and scenarios that had little to do with the proceedings and for my money, amounting to little more than padding between the other acts.

That's not to say that there isn't some funny material on the disc. Phill Jupitus is very funny, and does a great job stating the case that Eddie Izzard and NOT Ewan McGregor should have played the young Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars Prequels. A group of Indian comedians by the name of Goodness Gracious Me turn the tables and show us what might happen when a group of Bombay socialites go out for an "English" at a very exotic British Restaurant ("What's the Blandest thing on the menu?"). Eddie Izzard does have one truly funny bit when he discusses Pavlov's recently uncovered Cat journals which detail his famous experiments and what happened when they were conducted on a feline instead of a dog. Sean Lock, England's answer to Steven Wright, informs us that sharks will only attack you when you're wet. The finale to the evening's festivities is an updated version of the "classic" Monty Python sketch, "The Four Yorkshiremen", with Eddie, Harry Enfield, Vic Reeves and Alan Rickman filling in for the Pythons.

As for the Musical performances, most of them have been cut down or edited in such a way as to take away from the impact of them. Badly Drawn Boy is the standout, being far funnier and more heartfelt than most of the comedians. With just a harmonica and a guitar, he plays his most famous hit, "The Shining". Tom Jones breaks out his inner bluesman with "Flat Broke and Busted". The Stereophonics play their hit, "Have a Nice Day." Finally, U2, the patron saints of festivals like these, phone it in, literally, via a satellite link to their show from Toronto on their Elevation tour. They perform "Stay (Faraway, So Close)", but at this point you've seen them on a jumbotron so many times that it ceases to mean anything anymore. Don't these high and mighty bands realize that they're not doing us any favors by "joining us via satellite"? I mean, who really cares about that anymore? You'd think that Bono would have been there in person with an acoustic guitar, strumming along to one of his world peace anthems.

The DVD:

Picture: The concert is presented in 1:78:1 widescreen aspect ratio. The picture is sharp and clear.

Audio: This DVD features a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, which sounds fine.

Conclusion: It's nice that Image Entertainment was able to bring this DVD over here, and upon further research it is almost identical to the UK release. However, having said that, it's nothing more than the version that was broadcast on the BBC. You'd think that with DVD technology and the growing audience for this sort of thing, that there would have been more of the comedians' performances, since there must have been some really good stuff lost in the two hours that was clipped from this production. Still, it would be worth a rental to fans of Eddie Izzards, but everyone else should probably just pass.