Rating: US Not Rated
Studio: Comedy Central
Run Time: Approx: 160 minutes
Release Date: February 5, 2006
Suggested Retail Price: $19.99

Reviewed by:  Mary Anne O’Connell

Featured Comedians: Lewis Black, Dane Cook, Jeff Dunham, Jim Gaffigan, Mitch Hedberg, Demetri Martin, Carlos Mencia and Brian Regan

The Best of Comedy Central Presents Uncensored contains eight different comedians performing their stand-up acts.  Each show runs 20-minutes (when originally aired, each show was 30 minutes due to commercials).  Comedians on this DVD are listed above.  

Our family loves stand-up comedy and we always look forward to “Comedy Central Presents” to see what comedian will be on.  Over the years we have picked our favorites and even gone to see them several times when they perform at the Improv in Irvine.  Because the majority of the acts on this DVD are quite old, (1999 to 2003), we have already taped them for our own personal library. Also, a few of the acts on this DVD can be found on previously released DVD’s by each comedian.  But it is nice to have them all on one DVD.

A couple of the comedians in this DVD are worth special mention. Our favorite by far is Brian Regan. We have been a fan of his since Day One!! He is so funny -- especially is old stuff (which is on this DVD).  I don’t think a day goes by in our house that we don’t use one of his lines!  His bits range from how to make Pop-Tarts to waking up on the day of the science fair realizing you didn’t do a project – so you put dirt in a cup!  I can go on and on about Brian but one point I want to mention about him is that he does not need to be “uncensored” because his act is completely clean and family friendly!!

On the other end of the spectrum is Dane Cook.  In this 2000 performance he is just all over the place. He looks really young (compared to his appearance in the movie “Employee of the Month), sports spiky hair, a black wife-beater T-shirt and feels the need to scream and bounce around the stage desperate for a laugh!  He does have a funny routine about going to Mass on Sunday and his experience working at a Burger King drive-through, but that is it!

Another worthy mention goes to Jim Gaffigan.  We discovered Jim about a year ago and, man, is he funny!  Here again, is an old performance (2000) but a classic.  He is a pale-skinned funny man from the Midwest who’s routine includes bits about Catholicism, manatees and birthday cakes!

Lewis Black’s rant is from 2002.  He has an angry stage persona but that’s part of his schtick.  His routines are usually politically based, right-on, and funny. I love his comparison of Christmas to Chanukah! He also appears frequently on The John Stewart Show.  

The remaining comedians I will comment on briefly:  
Carlos Mencia – is a funny, racially-based comedian who has is own show on Comedy Central “Mind of Mencia.”  

Jeff Dunham -  comedian/ventriloquist.  Has a couple cute puppets/characters, but our family never got into him.

Demetri Martin -  a slow, one-liner comedian (reminds me of Steven Wright), plays the piano and uses a sketchpad to get jokes.

Mitch Hedberg – Deceased.  This is one of his old performances from 1999. His long-hair always in his face, dark sunglasses and deadpan delivery of jokes and one-liners… never quite got!  

The choice of acts on this DVD is quite interesting, how they came up with them I don’t know.  I would recommend that routines by comedians be organized by year of performance.  This way consumers could have the option of buying a performers old stuff or new stuff.  

Extras:  There are four quick-clips of South Park, Lil’ Bush, The Colbert Report, and  The Sarah Silverman Program and a couple trailers.

I give it 7 out of 10 binkies.

Mary Anne O’Connell is a mom and part-time nurse.  She lives in California with her husband, two children, one pug dog, one love bird, one cat, one hamster, and four snakes.