The Man Show DVD Review:

A celebration of beer, bikinis, and bodily functions, The Man Show is crude, offensive, and absolutely hilarious. Hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla use their instincts as chauvinistic pigs and their raw comedic talent to make The Man Show what it is. Although the humor is sometimes over the top, and some of the skits are just plain stupid and unfunny, there is an undeniable charisma to Jimmy and Adam’s complete lack of respect for anyone including themselves.

Filmed in front of a live audience, with beer handed out as the show is filmed, The Man Show is essentially a series of comedic bits and filmed skits with comedic banter between Adam and Jimmy in between. With a live band and scantily clad women titled “Juggies” dancing around the studio, The Man Show often looks more like a bachelor party than a T.V. show. Although there are some skits which are reoccurring, such as The Wheel of Destiny and Man-O-Vations, the only two things that are on every episode are the Q&A portion and the Girl’s Jumping on Trampolines.

Most of the comedy in the studio between Adam and Jimmy is funny, but the real laughs come from the more impromptu bits in public. When either Adam or Jimmy go out into public to ask questions on the street or to work a random job, The Man Show is often at its best. The only time that the show is funnier is when they do things with a hidden camera, such as The Man Show Boy. The Man Show Boy is a young kid who they send out to do things that a man would do, like pick up on women or try and buy beer. As offensive as it is, this is one of the funniest bits on the show. The only skit that comes close to being as funny is the one in which Adam and Jimmy dress up like pilots and get drunk in the waiting area of an airport.

As funny as these bits are, there are some which are horribly unfunny. Most of these are the skits which are filmed beforehand, and seem to be far too much like skits you may see on Saturday Night Live. Watching Jimmy dress up like Oprah isn’t unfunny, but it is often boring. Perhaps one of the stupidest skits in the season is Sock Puppet Porn, which goes on for far too long for such a silly gimmick.

As stupid as the bad skits are, there always seems to be at least one or two that are worth sifting through the others to see in each episode. Every time I was tired of watching the DVDs I would see a skit that was so funny that I was hooked into watching at least one more episode.

All of the episodes from the third season are packed into four DVDs, which are not slim discs, so make room on your shelf. There are also two episodes in the 26 which are only re-caps of the season, which is somewhat pointless when you own the entire season. On disc four there are special features, which are somewhat repetitious, but may please some men. There are a great deal more Girls Jumping on Trampolines and a long segment showing two of the Juggies dancing in each costume of the season. These two Juggies are Angylique and Vanessa, although I had no idea what their names were before I watched the special features. There are also a few short skits which were left out of the originally aired season, but none of them are nearly as funny as the ones which were aired.

Although the DVDs were roughly thrown together in a bulky package, there are many chapter stops and the material is great. It is a show that is almost guaranteed to anger women all around, but as long as it isn’t taken seriously it can be quite amusing.



Ryan Izay