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Stand-up comedy and television were made for each other. From the short stand-up routines on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" to the parade of comic bits on BET's late-night "Comic View," most famous comedians got that way through television.

The marriage of stand-up and movies has been much more difficult. While the occasional concert flick has done well (Eddie Murphy's Raw, maybe), most have bombed, and even the regular movies of stand-up artists have failed. Honestly, how many genuinely funny Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, or Robin Williams movies can you name? For some reason, that form of comedy doesn't hold up well on the big screen.

The Original Kings of Comedy, directed by Spike Lee (Summer of Sam) breaks that unhappy tradition with four larger-than-life comics: Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac. For some of you, those will be familiar names; for others, the fact that these four made up the highest-grossing comedy tour in history will be something of a shock. If you don't watch BET or Showtime at the Apollo or other shows aimed at an African-American audience, this film is likely to be your first introduction. If so, I heartily recommend you see it.

The movie is a distillation of the Kings of Comedy tour which has been rolling across America since 1997. Taken from two shows in Charlotte, North Carolina, the movie is basically the four stand-up routines of the four comics.

Harvey, who acts as the MC for the evening, has a great description of his compatriots: "I use the analogy of the family reunion. We're all uncles that come over to the house. Uncle D.L. is the uncle that bitches about everything. Uncle Bernie says stuff that you really ain't supposed to ever say out loud. Everybody likes Uncle Ced. He has a happy act. He's more congenial to people." And Uncle Steve is the best MC a movie could ask for. Besides having the funniest routine of the four (in my opinion--your mileage may vary), he also is tremendous at working the crowd and introducing the other comedians.

As you might expect of a movie with four black comics, much of the movie's humor revolves around race. But because the concert's audience was predominantly black, the jokes have an open quality about them that you never see on shows like "Saturday Night Live." The comics can figuratively let their hair down and say what they feel. Sometimes, they make fun of African-American foibles (hip hop performers get the brunt of the jokes), but the audience laughs because it's "in the family." At other times, they poke at white fears or assumptions, and the audience roars its approval.

Needless to say, this might make white filmgoers uncomfortable (a fact the movie subtly acknowledges when it focuses on the rare white person in the audience), and that can only be a good thing. I think sending whites to this movie would do more to help them understand what it's like to be a minority than all of the sensitivity training courses currently being offered.

Not all of the jokes are racial, however. The comics are also somewhat older and, like Bill Cosby before them, have some strong words for the younger generation. Bernie Mac, in particular, goes on and on (maybe a bit too long) about the children under his roof. The comics are also unashamedly male. Their riffs on the battles in the bedroom are both raunchy and hilarious. Those easily offended should take note: this movie is explicit, with almost every third word some variation on a swear. The movie even saves its final segment for a defense of a particularly egregious curse word, an unfortunate choice, I think.

The off-stage bits that link the comedy routines are completely superfluous. In one instance, the comics are playing poker and apparently having a great time, though why is never clear to us. In another, they're on the basketball court; then they're on the radio. If the segments weren't so short, they'd feel like an intermission.

The rest of Spike Lee's direction is more interesting. Using a large number of digital video cameras placed throughout the concert hall, Lee has a bevy of angles and close-ups from which to choose. And choose he does. There's a camera directly beneath the performer, one behind, one behind but higher up, another from the side, two from in the audience at different distances, and who knows how many are used to capture the facial expressions of hundreds of audience members. The variety is probably one reason the movie rarely gets old, though to take anything away from the comedians would be a disservice. 

J. Robert Parks 8/30/2000