Featured Blu-ray / DVD Review: Lewis Black: In God We Rust

September 8, 2012

Lewis Black: In God We Rust - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray

Lewis Black is one of my favorite Stand-up comics and I've previously reviewed one of his concert DVDs. This does solve one of the problems with reviewing this type of release. As I've said many times in the past, I'm never sure how to review one of these titles. How do you describe a joke without ruining the joke? Here, I can give a basic description of Lewis Black's comedy style and then I can say whether or not it is better or worse than his previous DVD. No spoilers necessary.

The Set

Lewis Black is an angry, ranty comedian, who rants about a wide variety of topics, mostly political. At least that's what he's best known for throughout his career. However, in this set, politics is a much smaller portion of the whole. It comes up a lot, but it doesn't dominate the set. He starts out with rants on more personal subjects, like love, or pop culture subjects, like The Jersey Shore. (On a side note, I've reviewed a season of The Jersey Shore, and I don't know the names of all of the characters on that show. So clearly I've avoided wasting as many brain cells on the subject as he has.) He also spends a lot of time on turning older. But it is technology that probably takes up the largest percentage of the set.

So how is In God We Rust compared to Stark Raving Black? It's not quite as good. The energy isn't quite as high as before while the jokes are not quite as sharp. Don't get me wrong, he still has his usual outburst and does hit his target quite frequently, but it is a little off. Then again, a Lewis Black set that is a little below his career average is still better than 90% of the stand-up comedy concert DVDs out there.

The Extras

Extras begin with a two-minute look at an audience walk-out and Lewis Black's reaction. There is a five-minute photo gallery. Next up is seven minutes of "Audience Participation", which includes calling out some of the audience, outtakes, etc. Finally, there are five minutes of behind-the-scenes at the promo shoot.

There are no additional extras on the Blu-ray. It does look very good, compared to the average stand-up comedy DVD, but it is obviously not a visual feast. Likewise, the audio is very clear, but uncomplicated. The Blu-ray costs $17 compared to $12 for the DVD, which is a bit much to pay for this type of release.

The Verdict

In God We Rust is not the best concert release from Lewis Black, but it is still worth picking up. The extras on the DVD and the Blu-ray are better than average, but the latter it a touch expensive compared to the former. It isn't a deal-breaker, but it isn't a bargain either.


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