New Wave Entertainment presents

Jeff Cesario: You Can Get a Hooker Tomorrow Night (2005)

"You think it's possible for them to design an electric car that doesn't look like a gay spaceship? Is that too much to ask? Sure, it gets 70 miles to the gallon, but it looks like a f***** elf shoe that broke off a Rose Bowl float."- Jeff Cesario

Stars: Jeff Cesario
Director: Chuck Vinson

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (language)
Run Time: 56m:07s
Release Date: 2006-04-25
Genre: comedy

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B+	A	B+	A+	B-

 

DVD Review

Jeff Cesario is a really funny guy, and that's never easy to do. In the early 1990s he was a writer for The Larry Sanders Show, as well as the ill-fated Dennis Miller Live, but he's really made his mark as a standup comic. On stage, Cesario understandably riffs on topics the audience can identify with, festooned with the right amount of eye-rolling frustration for things like leaf blowers or picking out a china pattern. New Wave Entertainment has issued a budget-priced disc of Cesario in action—anchored with the awkward title of You Can Get a Hooker Tomorrow Night—so for less than $10 there's an opportunity to see one of the most consistently funny comics working today.

This set was recorded at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood in 2005, and finds Cesario moving through a series of subjects that a lot of comics have certainly covered before (marriage, racial differences, adolescence), but the variance here is that Cesario, for lack of a better way to say it, is simply able to do it well. He's regrettably burdened with the "everyman" label, which is a tough one to live up to, but he delivers relatable setups and stories that don't meander all over the place. His bits are tight and well constructed, and he refrains from wandering into subjects that are graphically offensive. That's a difficult balancing act for a comic, which Cesario is able to carry off.

It's seems kind of counterproductive to rattle off all his best punchlines, so let's just leave it with the notion that Cesario is a polished comic who really knows how to carve something like the subject of lesbians into something that isn't homophobic or scatological. Even when he talks about sex, the bit never goes too far, and he manages to keep the flow of his act moving along without a whole lot of detours. In addition, there are no wacky backstage bits that sometimes crop up on standup discs, and audience reaction shots are kept to a tolerable minimum.

The disc carries an "unrated" moniker on the front cover, but Cesario is not exactly what one would call a shock comic. Expletives are used as punctuations for the most part, and he doesn't swear just to swear, unlike a lot of other standups. It just seems odd that the title of this DVD (with the "hooker" mention) and the unrated tag seem to imply that perhaps this is a bit raunchy, but Cesario is a smart, talented observational comic and the marketing here appears to want to make him something else.

Rating for Style: B+
Rating for Substance: A

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.85:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	yes

Image Transfer Review: The funny has been issued in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and the transfer is a fairly strong one. Colors are dominated by deep blues and reds, but the level of detail is sharp, even with Cesario wearing dark clothes in front of a dark backdrop. Fleshtones are a bit warm, but remain consistent throughout. No evidence of debris or dirt, either.

In general, very nice looking.

Image Transfer Grade: B+
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English	yes
Dolby Digital 5.1	English	yes

Audio Transfer Review: New Wave Entertainment has provided a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track for Cesario's set, and while his voice is crisp and easy to understand, the real treat is the way the crowd reactions sound. The rear channels deliver the expected applause and laughter, but the left and right fronts also have discrete cues, so that there is a genuine live feel to the presentation and there is a sense of being in a comedy club (minus the sticky floors and two-drink minimums).

An effective but modest 2.0 stereo track is also included.

Audio Transfer Grade: A+ 

Disc Extras

Full Motion menu with music
Scene Access with 8 cues and remote access
3 Other Trailer(s) featuring Goldhill comedy series, Texas Hold 'Em: The Winning Strategy, The Long Way Round
4 Deleted Scenes
Packaging: Amaray
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extras Review: The back cover lists the runtime as 01h:35m, but appears to be an error because Cesario's set runs just under an hour and the deleted scenes are only nine minutes long. The four deleted scenes (09m:35s) provide a few additional laughs, including a bit on Italian aging where you go to bed looking like Al Pacino and wake up looking like Tommy Lasorda.

The disc is cut into eight chapters.

Extras Grade: B-
 

Final Comments

Not sure how much replay value a standup act has, but this is a great set of comedy from Jeff Cesario, and if you've ever endured a weak comic you can certainly appreciate it even more when someone is on their game. Plus, the 5.1 sound mix is very well done, and creates a spacious live feel to Cesario's act.

This one can be had for under $10, so even if you watch it once it's an easy recommendation.

Rich Rosell 2006-04-26