Zach Galifianakis - Live At The Purple Onion (Comedy Concert)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B Concert: A
My
viewing of the new Zach Galifianakis:
Live at the Purple Onion (2007) DVD was my first experience with what
proved to be a truly unique and brilliantly funny comic. Unlike most comics who seem to show up on
stage with a list of jokes and simply read them off throughout their
performance, Zack comes off as being largely unrehearsed. Zack’s comedy appears
to be drawn from the act of performing itself.
For much
of the show Zack sits hunched over a piano in an almost Tom Waits-like posture,
softly tapping away at the keys as he delivers, seemingly off the top of his
head, a long series of one-liners that almost brought me to tears. When Zack is done with the piano (or maybe out
of beer) he stands up and engages the audience; taking jabs at both himself and
whomever his eyes happen to fall upon. Zack
is also never unaware of and constantly reminds his audience, that this
performance is for a DVD.
In
between clips from the live set at the Purple Onion, there is also hilarious
road footage of Zack, his friend, and Zack’s fittingly absurd van, along with a
mock interview of Zack’s brother Seth (played, of course, by Zack). Aside from being hilarious, the interview with
Zack’s fictional brother seems to get at a lot of what is so remarkable about
Zack’s particular style of comedy; that is Zack’s constant adoption of new
personas and characters which he imagines and uses straight away, often
discarding them after only one line. Unlike most comedians who adopt one stage
personality and use this as their lens, Zack is constantly flying from one to
another creating a sort of comedic kaleidoscope where every turn is funnier
than the last.
Both the anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 picture and Dolby Digital sound are adequate. Given the small
budget nature of the film, viewers will hardly be surprised or distracted by
the sometimes out of focus cameras and overall average video. The sound options for this disc are Dolby 5.1
and Dolby stereo. Hardly cutting edge
but considering the content of the disc, not much more is really necessary, and
it certainly doesn’t detract from this immensely enjoyable DVD. Extras include outtakes and extended footage
from the Purple Onion performance and the Seth Galifianakis interview, a funny
bit of Zack shaving in order to become his brother, and footage taken at
various locations on the way to The Purple Onion.
- Jarrod DeArmitt
