Todd Barry: "Super Crazy" (2012) DVD Review

I've always been a sucker for comedians with a dry, deadpan delivery. Of course, the material has to be good too.  And Todd Barry certainly has no shortage of good material, as he proves in his hour-long stand-up special, Super Crazy, which will be airing soon on Comedy Central, as well as being released on DVD.

This performance was filmed at the Gramercy Theatre in New York. Todd Barry opens by talking about experiences in different parts of the country. For example, in North Dakota he went on the radio to promote his show. The show's host decided to give away pairs of tickets to the first five callers. When Todd pointed out to him that no one was calling, the host responded, "It's always this way."  "It's always this way? Then why do you do it this way?"

Starting off with anecdotes from various places is a good idea, because the material then seems completely fresh, like these are new experiences and the audience is the first to ever hear them (whether that's the case or not). And of course Todd's delivery is spot-on - dry, straightforward, not embellished in a way that makes a joke feel routine. About his deadpan delivery, at one point he says, "I just smiled on stage. They'll delete that, don't worry."

There is also some great self-deprecating humor about his early days doing stand-up. I love this bit about the club owner on an outgoing message: "My wife hasn't slept with me since I booked Todd Barry. She told me not to book him." 

Todd Barry doesn't refrain from directly addressing individual audience members, and putting them on the spot. But not in a mean way. When at one point the audience took a moment to laugh, he called them on it, asking them why they waited to laugh. He said he'd fix it later, moving the laughter to where it should have come in. "Shame on you guys." There's another moment where he completely calls out this chick in the audience, making fun of her when her brain froze, until finally he's like "I've got to get past this."

As I said, he was some excellent material. The New York real estate bit is great. As is the lazy germaphobe bit. He says, "Laundromats have these baskets on wheels. Some guy will come in with a big bag of disgusting laundry, put it in the basket, move it into the washer. And I'm supposed to take my clean laundry out of the dryer, put it in that exact same basket?" Seriously. I've never been able to do that, and people have made fun of me for that.

One of my favorite bits is this: "Saw a great product advertised. It was a hearing aid made to look like a Bluetooth headset. It's for people who are embarrassed about wearing a hearing aid but not about wearing a Bluetooth headset."  Perfect. I always have an urge to smack those people across the face (the Bluetooth people, not the hearing aid people).  And we all know they deserve it. Todd says, "It's like, 'Hey, Frank, I thought you were deaf. It turns out you're just a jackass. Can you take that off? We're at dinner.'"

The show is truly funny throughout, and my only criticism is that it has no real build. There's no climax. It could begin anywhere and end anywhere.

The DVD has a couple of special features. The first is something called "Giggles, Wiggles, And Giggles With Gordy," and it's a fake interview conducted by a college guy in a dorm. It's pretty lame, the only truly funny moment being when Todd closes the little refrigerator door.  The second feature is much better. It's Todd Barry's performance at the roasting of Chevy Chase. He says, "It's just pretty sad when the most talented guy at the Chevy Chase roast is Chevy Chase."  Chase in turn asks him his last name.

Super Crazy is scheduled to be released on July 24, 2012.  It will also air on Comedy Central on Saturday, July 21st.