Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion

Just like the most perfect representation of a comedian film, and yet it's so not. My favorite stand-up film ever.

I like most of what Galifianakis has done outside this and I understand his comedy, but I found this show to be a little bit too indulgent, ill-disciplined and not very funny. I can do without seeing long inserts of him driving a Kombi and the 'twin' character didn't add anything but highlight the weakness of the main set: In a 1 hour show nothing should be trying to detract from the stand-up unless there are problems with the stand up in the first place. And there were; (unintentionally and repeatedly) flubbed jokes; excessive and repetitive interaction with one audience member; lack of much coherence; and inconsistent delivery. There were occasional lines that brought a smile, but more often the comedy fell flat or awkwardly for me.

Zach Galifianakis's first feature-length special, following the "Look Who It Isn't" compilation. Features one of his stand-up sets with footage of Zach on the road and an interview with "Zach's twin brother" interspersed. His material consists of one liners, wordplay, crowd work and general weirdness. Zach style has a relaxed, natural feel, but at times comes off more sloppy and unprepared. Fortunately, Galifianakis is downright lovable and his ad-Ibs tend to be dynamite, so that does buy him a little slack. His innovation in how he presents his material can be better than the material itself, though he does have some solid laughs on here. Starts slow, but has a killer finish.

King of the one-liner, insult comedy, strange lying-down comedy, meta comedy, musical comedy.

This is a SPECIAL special. This film of a Zach G stand-up set captures a comedian at the peak of his powers, completely self-deprecatory and self-deconstructive, if that's a thing, Zach is just plain funny. That's all you need to know.

The only moments that didn't work for me bordered on insult-comedy and audience- participation, the sort of moments normally aimed at hecklers. Just not a fan of that sort of thing. They still worked well to showcase how quick Zach is, because he bounces instantly off something the audience-member says into something brilliant.

The chief genre here is one-liner. If you don't care for one-liners, steer clear. If you've never seen a Zach G comedy set (like I hadn't) highly recommended.

Zach Gach-fix-kin-ass-key is one of the freshest comedians walking the comedy beat today, he has created a very original style of comedy and the best way I can describe it is to call it "venting". You know that feeling of awkward hilarity when someone does something embarrassing and you cant help but laugh? he tends to blend that, with making fun of himself and his past and I have to say that I cant remember the last time I laughed so hard. His comedic style beats the HELL out of Dane Cook's overcooked garbage. My favorite quote from the film is "When you look like I do it's hard to get a table for one at a Chuck E' Cheese." I cant really say much more other than there should be a movie made about Zach's "brother" Seth Galifiankis.