“Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush” DVD Review
Well, since George W. Bush will be leaving office this year, it’s only natural that tributes to his tenure as the President of the United States of America start popping up everywhere. Some, of course, will try to paint his tenure in office as anything but a trainwreck, others won’t, of course. Regardless of where you stand on his run as Leader of the Free World, his stay in the Oval Office is ripe for parody, as we’ve seen countless times. And now, Paramount Home Entertainment and Comedy Central have released the “Ultimate Tribute DVD” and, well, if this DVD is any indicator, we may want to forego any tributes to his stay in office and just forget it even happened, which a lot of us will try to do anyway.
The laughter. The tears. The “Oh, no, did he really just say that?” moments. Join Comedy Central as we take a loving look back at our 43rd President’s reign and salute him as only we can. Relive your favorite “Dubya” memories from the past eight years with the help of classic episodes from South Park, L’il Bush, That’s My Bush, and more. Given all the comedy he’s provided us throughout the years, it’s only fair we repay him! Don’t let ol’ Bush down, now! Love him or hate him, you’ll certainly laugh with him (or more likely at him) watching this ultimate tribute DVD.
This DVD is basically, if you couldn’t guess from the disc synopsis above, a compilation of Comedy Central-programming parodying George W. Bush, and, well, it gets really tiring really fast. The disc starts off well enough with South Park, but then sort of goes downhill from there. Now, the South Park episode is the classic “Mystery of the Urinal Turd” episode which, while focusing on the mystery of why someone went “number two” in a school urinal, it also dovetails into the overall (and ridiculous) conspiracy about 9/11. A really great episode all around which, yes, features George W. Bush. After that, however, the compilation disc goes downhill pretty fast.
An episode of L’il Bush comes up next and, well, doesn’t elicit a single laugh from me. The first plot is L’il George trying to find something to get his father for Father’s Day which, naturally, goes awry. After that we get an episode where L’il George is trying to win a kissing contest and, well, it’s just not funny. The jokes fall flat, are predictable, and just get tiring. I’m all for political humor, but it doesn’t work here in the slightest. After that we get an episode of That’s My Bush which, again, isn’t the best of the bunch and is pretty weak. George W. accidentally schedules both a dinner with his wife and a meeting at the same time. Hilarity ensues, only, not really. I can understand this show was supposed to be a send-off on the tired sitcom formulas, but that execution just doesn’t work.
From there the disc seems to collapse into an array of assorted shorts and comedy stand-up which, well, some of it is actually good, but most of it, again, falls flat. An episode of Lewis Black’s The Root Of All Evil sort of falls flat in execution. Sure, the idea of trying to figure out whether Dick Cheney of Paris Hilton is more evil is kinda funny, but it just goes on and on and on. And that’s the problem with this disc. It just goes on and on until it becomes a mix of really bad George W. Bush impressions and weak comedy. Why not include The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report? Hell, why not make a tribute disc with just those two shows? I’d take that over this relatively weak effort.
The disc compilation also includes clips from Mind of Mencia, Last Laugh ’06, Last Laugh ’07.
Overall, the only redeeming parts of this tribute compilation disc I can recommend is South Park and maybe That’s My Bush, but that’s it. The rest just seems to be a mix of really tiring and weak Bush impressions and jokes that, well, while some are funny, just aren’t overall. It’s just not something I’d recommend plunking down $10 or $15 dollars for. Personally, I’d recommend a Rental for Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush since this disc seems to be more of a one-spin type deal. I just can’t see the rewatchability factor in this disc unless you happen to like every single program features here on the disc. Given how Bush and his Republican Party have basically ruined the economy in the U.S. (the affects of which are now trickling into Canada), I would like to see something more scathing than the rather tired comedy we get here. It’s a good one-note watch but, like the jokes found within, it gets really repetitive really fast.
The DVD:
Paramount Home Entertainment has packaged Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush in a standard Amaray case. The audio and video is great for the release. All the episodes look and sound great, with no real noticeable imperfections. The extras here are non-existent. The only extras include a couple Comedy Central Quickies (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report) and a fold-out poster housed inside the DVD case. That’s it. I know this is a really short review of the disc itself, but, well, there’s not much here to look at outside the main feature.
So, as I said above, I just can’t see this disc being watched again and again. It doesn’t hold up to repeat viewings and, quite frankly, it’s not that funny. Save for South Park and a few bits here and there, it’s basically a 110 minute compilation of bad Bush impressions and humor. Why is the horrid Mind of Mencia included in this disc and not something else, well, funny? However, this Comedy Central humor might be right up your alley and, if it is, then check out this disc, but personally, I can only recommend a Rental. Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush is a solid idea, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush will hit shelves October 21st, 2008.