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George Carlin Double Feature -- Jammin' In New York/Doin' It Again
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Columbia/Tri-Star has packaged two of George Carlin's HBO specials -- "Jammin' In New York" and "Doin' It Again" -- on one disc. Although only recorded two years apart (1992 and 1990 respectively), Carlin's performances are almost entirely different. "Jammin' In New York" features lengthy rants on a number of subjects, including the government, the military, golfers, class differences, and airlines, and "Doin' It Again" focuses more on language...mostly words and their meanings. Personally, I found the angrier "Jammin' In New York" much more entertaining than "Doin' It Again", which as the title suggests, seems as if Carlin is just going through the motions. Both are hilarious though, and the amount of material (and quality material, at that) on this disc puts it far above the glut of 1-hour specials currently available on DVD.
Video: The video quality of both "Jammin' In New York" and "Doin' It Again" is decent. It's evident that both specials were shot on video 8-10 years ago, and neither look any better than they'd appear on cable. This is exactly what I was expecting, so I can't say I'm particularly disappointed. George Carlin's expressions and gestures really accentuate his performance, and unlike some comics which work well as background noise, the visual aspect is very important and, thankfully, acceptably represented on DVD.
Audio: Both specials feature Dolby surround tracks, although it comes as no surprise that the use of surrounds is more or less non-existent. The dialogue is clear and free of hissing and distortion, which is all that can really be hoped for in a disc of stand-up material.
Conclusion: Since the majority of stand-up on DVD runs close to an hour each, seeing a double feature is very welcome. There's not much overlap between "Jammin' In New York" and "Doin' It Again", leaving right at two hours of original material. However, the MSRP of $29.99 seems a little on the high side and makes it a bit more difficult to highly recommend (although still, considering that most 1-hour stand-up specials run in the $20 range, this disc certainly isn't a bad deal). Fans of Carlin have probably already bought the disc and wouldn't bother to read this review, but for those who are unfamiliar with his work but interested, this disc comes very highly recommended as a rental and recommended as a purchase.
Aside: I wouldn't mind hearing George Carlin rant about studios listing "full screen presentations", "interactive menus", and "digitally mastered audio and video" as 'special features'.
Video: The video quality of both "Jammin' In New York" and "Doin' It Again" is decent. It's evident that both specials were shot on video 8-10 years ago, and neither look any better than they'd appear on cable. This is exactly what I was expecting, so I can't say I'm particularly disappointed. George Carlin's expressions and gestures really accentuate his performance, and unlike some comics which work well as background noise, the visual aspect is very important and, thankfully, acceptably represented on DVD.
Audio: Both specials feature Dolby surround tracks, although it comes as no surprise that the use of surrounds is more or less non-existent. The dialogue is clear and free of hissing and distortion, which is all that can really be hoped for in a disc of stand-up material.
Conclusion: Since the majority of stand-up on DVD runs close to an hour each, seeing a double feature is very welcome. There's not much overlap between "Jammin' In New York" and "Doin' It Again", leaving right at two hours of original material. However, the MSRP of $29.99 seems a little on the high side and makes it a bit more difficult to highly recommend (although still, considering that most 1-hour stand-up specials run in the $20 range, this disc certainly isn't a bad deal). Fans of Carlin have probably already bought the disc and wouldn't bother to read this review, but for those who are unfamiliar with his work but interested, this disc comes very highly recommended as a rental and recommended as a purchase.
Aside: I wouldn't mind hearing George Carlin rant about studios listing "full screen presentations", "interactive menus", and "digitally mastered audio and video" as 'special features'.
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