Ron White is the greatest member of the Redneck Comedy Tour and Jim Gaffigan is the laziest man in comedy. Which comic’s recent standup routine reigns supreme?
The Lowdown
Ron White has the distinctive pleasure of being the only member of the Redneck Comedy Troupe that is worth a damn. Jeff Foxworthy was old news before he even joined up with his redneck buddies. Larry the Cable Guy is the most annoying, unfunny idiot to ever grace a stage, movie or television screen. There might be no one worse. Bill Engvall was funny at first but he grew old very fast. Ron White is the only one who remains funny and that is because he doesn’t rely on stupid redneck humor and instead relies on the fact that he is just a sarcastic asshole.
What makes Behavioral Problems great is Ron White does not repeat his old jokes and came up with an entirely new routine. If you see Engvall, you will get a new batch of “here’s your sign” jokes. White only mentions Tater Salad one time and it was just a passing reference to get a rise from the crowd. His jokes are for the most part are very funny and original. He pokes fun at himself based on his arrest in Miami for drug possession. “They passed three meth labs and four crack whores to get to me.” The punch line was when he was released an hour later and there were already protestors outside the police station with signs saying “free Tater Salad!”
He goes on to talk about his ideas on illegal aliens, which involve buying the South American countries, the irony of the name Scotch Guard, and the best reasons not to cheat on your wife. The best part of watching a Ron White show is watching him grow drunk throughout the show. He went through an entire bottle of scotch during the ninety minute show. While he started out clear headed, by the end of the show he was in a stupor, still funny, but more scattered and random.
Jim Gaffigan’s show is a complete 180 from Ron White’s. Where White was R-rated in both his language and subject matter, Gaffigan remains a clean comic discussing his love of laziness and overindulgence. When discussing bowling (a sport where half the people are serious and the other half are doing it because it’s funny), he talks about how it’s the only sport you can eat while playing and actually has a machine that brings the ball back to you.
The difference in style between Gaffigan and White is that White drips with sarcasm and is not afraid to go anywhere in his routine, where Gaffigan is more from the Jerry Seinfeld mode of humor, giving references to ideas off the top of his head. Unfortunately for Gaffigan, I watched this special following the Ron White standup act and it paled in comparison. The highlight of Gaffigan’s performance was talking about the origins of circumcision and its lineage to the Old Testament. These moments made me smile but nothing made me laugh as hard as Ron White’s performance.
The Package
Ron White’s Behavioral Problems includes deleted jokes from the actual show plus an additional joke told to a small group in the bar after the show. None of the jokes were really good enough to include in the show.
Where Ron White trumps Jim Gaffigan in laughs, King Baby triumphs in DVD extras. We start with Pale Force, which are three cartoons, co-starring Conan O’Brien, about crime fighters whose powers were based on their unusually pale skin. These animated shorts are brilliant and better than anything on the main feature of the DVD. These features bring up the overall score of the DVD. The first short shows Conan going to a Sidekick Support Therapy group alongside everyone from Chewbacca to Robin to Whoopi Goldberg to Max Weinberg. The second short includes a ridiculous “We Are Robots” song that is funny as hell. The third is a Christmas special where Jesus Christ, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Jimmy Stewart all insult Conan. It then turns into an It’s a Wonderful Life parody. The best parts of the shorts are the appearances of pop culture references and the fact that Conan pisses himself every time he is scared. Give me an entire season of this cartoon and I would be happy.
Our Massive Planet is Gaffigan’s nature series, in which he pretty much has no idea what he is talking about. He mentions he has never been out of the United States, believes apes spend too much time on the Internet, and believes humans are actually decedents of dinosaurs. It reminds me of Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy but is set up as short interview segments.
Also included are interview segments from They Laugh There Too (Britain) and Unmasked (XM/Sirius Radio). The British interview is played for laughs, almost a spoof interview. The Unmasked interview is a great conversation with the comedian and I find myself liking him more after this 26 minute conversation then I did after his standup act. The extras are rounded out with various promos for his Comedy Central special.
If you are looking for a very funny standup act, don’t hesitate to grab Behavioral Problems. If you are a fan of Jim Gaffigan, King Baby offers the most bang for your buck.
