John Pinette: Still Hungry

Comedy is not what it used to be, most of the greats are dead or retired. And the new generation of standups don't quite tell their stories with the same depth and connection as the old pros. Maybe -- waxing philosophical here -- it is because the new generation grew up in a world where "whatever" was not merely a grammatical qualifier, it was an actual lifestyle.

I used to work in this field (behind the camera) and consider Pinette one of the last of the greats. At his best, he is up there with Cosby, Carlin, Rickles, Jenni, Pryor. His first and best known special -- Starving -- makes this clear.

In this followup he says outright that the success of the first led to this one. But to be honest there are lulls. It is hard to run for over an hour, and you expect even the best of these guys to have to build to the close, like climbing a mountain. But there are lulls.

Overall however this special has moments of greatness. The bit on extended warranties, cruelty to cows, and being vegan will have you on the floor.

PS -- for connoisseurs of comedy, note that the closing bit (the "Irish Diet") is borrowed (to be kind) from the work of late, great, Richard Jenni (who originally wrote the bit as a diet infomercial from his friend "Vinnie." Actually I don't Richard would have minded. In this case imitation really is the highest form of flattery)

My family and i have always LOVED watching John Pinette's comedy routines. One of the main reasons why I loved his routines is because he is very funny without using profanity. In his first comedy movie (I believe it is called I'm Starvin'), he probably cursed around two or three times. His skits about food, especially the Chinese Buffet, were hilarious. So when my parents bought this film for my sister for Christmas, we began to watch it. John Pinette's use of profanity went up significantly. I didn't mind it too much until he decided to use the f-word. Many of his jokes also implied the use of the f-word. I still found many of the jokes to be extremely funny, but I lost some respect for Pinette. You are funny enough, John Pinette, without the constant use of profanity, the crude jokes, and the f-word. I, personally, think it is a cop out. Some comedians can't be funny on their own, so they have to use profanity. John Pinette, you are not one of them. Stop using the cheaters way of being funny.

The first comedy routine you could watch as a family. This one, you definitely couldn't. Please go back, John Pinette, to using cleaner material.

I first saw John Pinette do stand-up in the early 90s and he was hilarious. I've seen him several times since then...and he's still funny. Now, in 2011, does he still have it? Yup. Here he is Chicago doing much of the same sort of self-deprecating fat humor that still makes you laugh. In addition to lots of new material and some nice accents, Pinette revisits an old favorite--the Chinese Buffet! All in all, very funny and among the best comedians you can find.

By the way, I noticed one reviewer complained about Pinette's language. While I would agree that he is cursing more and you probably should not have young kids listening, compared to 98% of the comics out there, he's still among the least offensive and family-friendly.