Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre comedy Starring Lewis Black, Frank Caliendo, Patton Oswalt Directed by Various Publisher Comedy Central / Paramount Pictures

Do you know what I realized while watching the Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush DVD?  About half way through, right in the middle of the That’s My Bush episode, while staring at the guy that kind of looks like George W. Bush (out of the million and one W. impersonations, Will Ferrell looks most like him), it hit me: ninety nine percent of the George W. Bush impressions – the Texan accent, the eyebrows, the squint, the shrug, the snicker – ARE NOT FUNNY.  The real man is a little funny.

We get it.  He’s an idiot.  He stumbles over his words.  He doesn’t know how to pronounce complex words…  okay, he struggles with easy words, too.  You’ve heard of the expression “beating a dead horse?”  Well, with Comedy Central’s release of this DVD, they’ve managed to waterboard Seabiscuit.

Really.  The only thing worse than listening to the real George W. Bush is watching two hours of bad George W. Bush jokes (much like my Seabiscuit gag above).  First of all, Frank Caliendo needs to be stopped.  How has this guy somehow managed to enter every single thing I watch on TV now?  I sit down for Sunday football, and I see his face pop up intermittently for the next eleven hours.  I will never buy the DISH network, and it’s not because I think it’s a bad deal or the limited channels.  It’s because Frank Caliendo promotes the product, and somehow he’ll show his fat face when I hit the Start Up menu.  I think I saw him in AMC’s commercial-free showing of the 1941 classic Citizen Kane… and I know he’s not in it!

And, if I may steal a line from the wonderful, Kobe lovin’ Mark Jackson… Lewis Black, you’re better than that.  Lewis Black is a funny guy.  Really funny.  He’s managed to develop a unique brand of humor that’s very specific but accessible, and it’s not the lowest common denominator stuff that you’ll get from South Park.  But, he wastes his talent in a show called Lewis Black’s The Root Of All Evil.  It’s got a humorous concept: two sides argue, like attorneys, about who’s more evil.  In the episode featured on this DVD, Patton Oswalt claims that Dick Cheney is more evil than Paris Hilton.  Great.  Ha, ha, ha.  Funny idea… for a thirty second bit in a stand-up act.  Not a half hour show!  Seriously?  I don’t remember that ever being on (thank God), but it’s a big waste of time.  I’ll say it again… Lewis Black, you’re better than that.

So, that’s just a few samples of what you’ll get from this DVD.  I wanted to laugh.  I even giggled a couple of times, but a comedy DVD from Comedy Central should have a lot more comedy.