Customer Reviews

The World's Greatest Stand Up Comedy Collection

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I ordered this set expecting a wide assortment of stand up routines taped through the years in a wide variety of settings. This five DVD set is 25 half hour episodes from a syndicated show hosted by Norm Crosby called "The Comedy Shop" all from 1978. When I realized what I was getting I was dissapointed, but it is fun to watch.You get every episode of that show featuring well known comedians of the day, comedians who would go on to greater fame and a whole lot of one hit wonders. Its fun to watch this time capsule from 27 years ago.Forthe price it's a good deal.

I bought this full of excitement, being a die-hard comedy fan. Don't expect rare footage- this is all taken from a 70's(?) television show.

The humor is toned-down, cliche, and predictable. It's cool to see some famous people of today back when they weren't household names, but they are not outrageous or hysterical or even very original. Dry material for a dry audience. Not enough laughs per hour. If you can find it for $5 I would recommend it.

I've reviewed most of the popular comedy DVDs, but the World's Greatest Stand Up Comedy Collection stands out. It seems like every comic who I respect is on it, from Jay Leno and Garry Shandling, to legends like Milton Berle (in top form here) and Henny Youngman. I always loved Norm Crosby, but seeing how he put together all these comedy giants really impressed me. He's got to be the most underrated of all the great stand-ups. The way he ties all the various acts together, it's fair to say he's also one of the great hosts in TV history.

I can't imagine any comedy fan not falling in love with this. I really got a kick out of watching the young Michael Keaton (I never knew he even did stand-up!) and Nathan Lane. Clocking in at 12 hours, there's enough great material here to keep you laughing for weeks. It seems that the distributor of these discs, Big Vision Entertainment, really came up with a gold mine of material. Highly recommended.

My wife and I watched it, but a lot of the material was really bad. Very corny jokes, so bad they hurt in some cases. Definitely a lot of material for the money though compared to other stand up DVD's. There are enough funny skits to warrant the purchase I guess, but you have to filter through a lot of bad jokes to find them.

Excellent!!! (And I usually don't take time to review a product, but this one deserves it) I teach Stand-up Comedy, The History of American Humor at Temple University's TARP Program. I have a collection of over 3,000 hours of stand up on video, and over 1,100 comedy albums (so I'm fairly jaded!).This compillation is "special" - a must own - in that it includes many comicswho rarely did TV, like Catskill and Vegas guys: Joey Villa, Dick Lord, Greg Lewis, Jackie Gayle, Mickey Marvin, Billy Fellows, Morty Gunty, Sal Richards, Stewie Stone, Jackie Kahane, Jeremy Krispien (formerly Vernon), Joey Van, Bob Anderson and more ---sure, there are the household words in this collection: Berle, Youngman, Hackett, Crosby, Shawn, Leno, Gallagher, Mason, Diller, and (Jackie) Vernon ... but the real treats of this boxed set are the "hard to find footage of guys" previously mentioned...if you like clean, classic, night club comedy, this is for you...all I ask is that they put out a volume 2- I'll be the first customer! Tommy Moore

For years I've wished I had saved more Betamax tapes from its original 1978 syndicated run, but now we get them commercial-less on DVD!

Jackie Vernon's classic "Slides of My Vacation" is here, plus so much more!

As you have no doubt read in other reviews, this is a 5 DVD set of a syndicated series from the 70's called "Norm Crosby's Comedy Shop." The up and coming comics who are today's headliners are amazing to watch in these early years. However, the box mentions the big names from that era such as Buddy Hackett and Don Rickles. BEWARE- MOST OF THE BIG NAMES ADVERTISED ON THE BOX ONLY INTRODUCE THE HOST- NORM CROSBY (or worse, they announce the upcoming commercial break.) They were all good friends of Norms and clearly wanted to help his show, but they don't do any routines. That said, these were half hour shows PACKED with one comic after another- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Comedy ain't pretty someone once said.) Best of all, the menu allows you direct access to each comic! Well worth the money, I'm just confused why it's packaged this way.................

It's remarkable how the material of so many different comics holds up so many years after their taped performances. Yeah, the hairstyles are longer (loved Leno's 'natural' and Shandling's boufant) and lapels are wider, but the jokes still hit the funnybone. What eventually hit me was every one of the dozens of comedians was able to be funny without bleep-laced language. It was great to see so many of todays' major comics at the time they were newcomers, but my biggest kick was catching slices of the Henny Youngmans, Milton Berles, and Jackies and Joeys now performing in the main room in the clouds. This set of DVDs should be required study material for TV's "Last Comic Standing" crowd and today's troupe of comedy club performers.

This DVD was good and there are no swear words in it so it is good for children. The comedians are funny. I just wish their bits were a little longer. Someitmes when I see these comedians in their early years I wonder if they knew they were going to be where they are now. I would reccommend this to any family that likes to laugh.