One forgets that before he became the resident "Roastmaster General," Jeffrey Ross was like many other stand-up comedians, toiling through many a smoke-filled, beer soaked comedy clubs performing his routine. From what I remembered of him back in the day, his material wasn't entirely special, but I was a teenager watching David Letterman at 12:30, and examining stand-up comedians at 1 in the morning wasn't at the top of my priorities. But at some point, he began ingratiating himself to old-school comics like Buddy Hackett and Don Rickles. In recent years, the Friars' Club roasts, a comedy staple through decades, enlisted him as the RG, if you will, and his appearances have been integral in breathing new life into his career.

No Offense: Live From New Jersey is the first stand-up special that Ross has appeared in, and was recorded in June 2008 at the Borgata in Atlantic City. The performance itself lasts just under an hour and it allows Ross to not only do what he does best, picking out folks from the crowd and skewer them, but it takes a step back into more traditional stand-up material, like his home state, his family and other target-rich environments. Among the people that Ross spots in the crowd for better or worse is Dee Snider, front man of Twisted Sister, and a US Army soldier, who watched Ross perform his act in Iraq, where Ross filmed Patriot Act and still periodically goes for USO shows.

While Ross' savagery of those in the audience is funny, it's the more traditional material that seems a little flat, uninspired. A couple of the jokes are pretty good, wickedly so, but it seems like the people attending the show are waiting for Ross to go into full-blown roasting mode, myself included, but the filler material included things on wi-fi access in hotels, and I was left thinking, "is that it?" To compare Ross to Rickles for a second, or even some of his contemporaries, his normal in-game material is lacking a little bit. That said, when he picks out peoples' faults when they're off (or on) stage, it's reminiscent of Rickles and hilarious. When the last third of the act is reciting poems with piano accompaniment, and the poems event aren't that funny, and you're bouncing things off the guest pianists, that might be something to take note of. Still though, Ross' performance in his home state, a short drive from his boyhood home, is an accomplishment that he (or any other comic) should be proud of.

Presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, No Offense looks like it might have originally aired in high definition, as it looks a little clearer and sharper than I was expecting. There's some crushing on Ross' black silk suit every so often and looking out into the crowd, but it looks good, if you can stand the occasional tight shot of the performer.

The two-channel Dolby track sounds like it's in surround sometimes, because the crowd sounds come through better than expected in the rear channels. And in the front, the dialogue comes through well, though the level tends to waver at times. But the performance is accurately replicated and sounds decent.

There's a documentary (12:58) that shows Ross coming back to his home town, where he visits his parents' gravesite and their old catering business with his sister. The sister gets a little emotional and it's slightly charming, but then when he goes back to visit his old high school, you can kind of see that's it's a little uninspired, because almost every stand-up under the sun who's had a TV special has included this as part of their special/DVD. What did surprise me was that there was a commentary on the performance by Ross and director Jay Karas. Ross talks about other performances in New Jersey where he hasn't headlined, and Karas recalled what he did occasionally. Ross discusses his frame of mind at various points during the performance, but the neurotic stand-up portion of his brain spots the empty seats in the audience too. Ross covers the genesis of some of the sorts in the performance as well. Karas talks about what he particularly likes about Ross' act and some minor production detail to boot, but nothing hardly revelatory. There's supposed to be some "unaired bonus footage" on the disc, but I couldn't find it. That said, Shout! decided to include a CD of Ross' performance as a companion of sorts.

While No Offense: Live From New Jersey has got its funny moments, it's sometimes a little bit stale, which considering the performance is approximately 53 minutes, is disappointing. Some of the laughs are funny and the extras attached to the disc aren't too horrible. I'd give this a rental at best to check out the guy who's always the last up on the Comedy Central roasts.