Stand-Up Comedy from the 1980s

Whoopi Goldberg: Fontaine... Why Am I Straight?
      1988 | USA | Laughs: 1.4 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 7.4
      who was involved?

First off, a few words to explain the title of this set: Whoopi Goldberg plays the character of her alter-ego Fontaine, a male junkie who, after going off drugs, is flabbergasted by what he sees when looking at America through sober eyes — hence Why Am I Straight? That's the premise of the show.

I was blown away by Whoopi's comic mastery — body language, faces, voices… she had a lot of ingredients. Sadly, what this show doesn't have today is relevance. Most of the material was circumstantial, relating as it did to events few will remember or to people who no longer matter. I smiled at the Reagan impressions, but for me the show had nothing to trigger laughter, and for younger people it will be worse.

A beautiful document for the archives of comedy… but a poor choice if you're just after something to make you laugh today.

(Last viewed: December 2019)

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Gallagher: The Maddest
      1983 | USA | Laughs: 0.8 | imdb: 7.9
      who was involved?

It was fun to see a slice of the 1980s for a moment, but it wasn't funny. We've moved on, and so has comedy. We've been exposed to so much great and appalling comedy since the time this set was tape that there is nothing left to salvage. Or perhaps there is and I didn't see it — I couldn't get past the twentieth minute. (Last viewed: November 2018)

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An Audience with Victoria Wood
      1988 | U.K. | Laughs: 0.2 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 8.2
      wikipedia | who was involved?

I have no doubt that Victoria Wood was very clever—her rapid-fire delivery suggests an agile mind. As a performer, I found her very likeable Yet in this set (the only one of hers that I've watched) her comedy did nothing for me, although the audience were in stitches. They in fact were the most interesting part of the show: it was fascinating seeing that collection of British faces from the 1980s. Through a combination of hair-styling, dental care, plastic surgery and diet, faces seem to have come a long way since that time. I apologize for not having anything more substantial to offer about this show. (Last viewed: August 2018)

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A Steven Wright Special
      1985 | USA | Laughs: 0.2 | imdb: 8.6
      who was involved?

Eight years after first trying out Steven Wright, I decided to give him a second chance, this time with a show from twenty years earlier than the first. The set a series of unconnected one- or two-liners delivered in a deadpan tone. The audience was in stitches, but I had barely cracked a smile after fifteen minutes, so I had to kill the tape. Why the audience laughed is beyond me. Perhaps it was the alcohol. More likely, some kind of mass hypnosis. (Last viewed: August 2018)

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Jackie Mason: The World According to Me
      1988 | USA | Laughs: N/A (Chuckle) | imdb: 7.7
      who was involved?

In the first half of the show, Jackie Mason covers themes such as dating, searching for the "real me" and Ronald Reagan. One of his comic devices is to tell you that he can't stand jokes about Poles (or Italians) then immediately proceed to tell you one, a trick that is often funnier than the joke itself. Some of the material may not be acceptable to modern ears, but it can all be chalked up to the uncivilized ways of the previous century. The bulk of the show is really about Jews and Gentiles, and I don't think I've ever seen a stand-up comedian exploit that theme so thoroughly. Maybe Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David walked that landscape? Jackie Mason owned it, and for me that made the set worth watching, even though I never really laughed. (Last viewed: September 2018)

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