Comedians of Comedy

Reviewed by:
Larry Dobrow

Performers on cross-country jaunts have long embraced chest-thumping monikers like "Monsters of Rock" and "The Original Kings of Comedy." So when a quartet of Comedy Central sweethearts hit the road during the summer of 2005 with cameras in tow, it was only natural that they'd go the ironically-self-aggrandizing route and dub themselves the "Comedians of Comedy." The resulting mix of on-stage comic ferocity and off-stage silliness, however, actually justifies the swagger. The four performers (Maria Bamford, Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, and Brian Posehn) are pretty much always on, rendering the chronicle of their summer road trip wholly engaging—kind of like Madonna's Truth or Dare, but with all humor of the intentional variety. That each performer boasts a unique comic persona—Bamford's squeaky-voiced sniper, Oswalt's glib miscreant, Posehn's deadpan oddball, and Galifianakis' faux-awkward slacker—makes for a greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts docu-something-or-other. Throw in a handful of insider moments, like the mixture of bemusement and mirth that creeps onto Oswalt's face as he listens to a pair of Baltimore talk-radio hosts rip him after a bland on-air interview, and you've got a quick-hit series that easily trumps whatever the hell networks not named Comedy Central are airing at 11 P.M. nowadays.

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