Blue Collar Comedy: The Next Generation

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre comedy Starring BIll Engvall, Jamie Kaler, Reno Collier, Juston McKinney Directed by C.B. Harding Publisher Warner Nashville

The original Blue Collar Comedy tour featured four guys that would mostly make jabs at living like a redneck.  Their humor was met with great response from audiences because each member had a distinct feature to the delivery, such as Larry the Cable Guy’s straightforward simplicity when condensing complicated topics.  The Next Generation has two of the four pieces ready to take over for the elder generation, as Juston McKinney and John Caparulo made me laugh until it hurts, yet Jamie Kaler and Reno Collier are nothing more than forgettable.  It’s also interesting that the only two funny comedians actually discussed topics that were about being a “simple man,” as that is the essence of Blue Collar Comedy.  The others featured bits that couldn’t be related to the audience, sometimes going into bizarre territory.

The performance begins with Blue Collar original BIll Engvall opening with a bit of his humor, not at the top of his game.  The only reason for his appearance was so that the house could be packed and so that somebody famous would sponsor the event.

Kaler, the first comedian, didn’t radiate any kind of quirk in his act.  The audeince would respond in a “I really want to laugh, so I’ll force it” type of attitude.  His topics from being an unwanted middle-aged man at a school to spilling chocolate on his shirt while being drunk and mistaking it for feces were stretching to get those laughs.

After Kaler, my hopes for anything funny felt shot.  Then, thank God, McKinney takes the stage.  His nervous twitch and awkward expressions were like a combination of Steve Carrell and Woody Allen.  His bits were right on the target.  His 1-2-3 punch lines about the stupidity of cleaning your palette with sorbet rang true, and were delivered with the most heartfelt of contempt for first-class air travel.

The train gathered full steam as Caparulo, the best of the bunch, was handed the microphone.  He reminded me of Larry the Cable guy in his tone, but was anything but laid back.  He was extremely uneasy on the microphone hopping from foot to foot as he spewed his guts.  One topic after another, he just flew through about twenty reasons why he can’t stand people.  The punch line on his bit about how book readers ruin movies by comparing the book to the movie had me on the floor with laughter.  What’s even better is I wholeheartedly agreed with him (That’s right, Harry Potter fanatic reading this review... I’m looking at YOU!)

After Caparulo’s standing ovation, everything crashed and went to Hell as Collier ran onstage, already laughing.  His act was completely disorganized and full of disgusting references which barely received laughter.  I’ve also never seen a comic laugh at himself more than the audience did.  His bit was loud, obnoxious, and a very juvenile attempt at playing with the big boys of comedy.  I have no clue why he had to bring up his Scottish heritage, because all he did was make a joke about kilts that’s been heard a thousand times.  His atrocities caused the night to end with a whimper, alongside Engvall’s half-hearted reprise.

Overall, in this package is fifty minutes of stand up, and only half of the time was I laughing.  The extras featured the comedians talking to the camera about their lives, as well as a fifteen minute featurette of them chatting with Bill Engvall.  However, this footage isn’t entertaining, so nobody would even bother.

From this DVD, I would suggest to go online and find out if McKinney or Caparulo are coming your town.  Other than that, this DVD isn’t much in terms of replay value, and is too short to be something sold to consumers.  It has it’s moments, but fails as an overall package.