Product Description

Studio: Sony Music Release Date: 02/24/2004

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2856 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2002-11-19
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 99 minutes

Amazon.com
Sharper and deeper than Robin Williams's previous road material, Live on Broadway is a mature comedian's view of all things to do with power, prejudice, and paranoia in the 21st century. On the anthrax scare of 2001: "The Senate cleared out of their building but told the rest of us, 'Get on with your normal lives!'" On his solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over Jerusalem: "Time share!" On the pitfalls of America's deepening alliance with Britain: "The House of Commons is like Congress with a two-drink minimum." A viewer may have to slog through Williams's tedious breast fetishism, but patience is quickly rewarded with bitchy takes on Martha Stewart facing prison, solid satire about French existentialist judges at the Olympics, and subversive op-eds about the Bush administration's inability to clarify terrorist threats to the public ("Has the CIA become the Central Intuitive Agency?"). --Tom Keogh

From the Back Cover
He shifts from Shakespeare to shtick without missing a beat, conjuring up absurdities faster than most people can think. Robin Williams-the Academy Award winning actor/writer/comedian/free spirit who happens to be one of the most gifted and revered performers of our time-stars in this exclusive CMV Home Video that promises to be the stand-up DVD of the year. Filmed live from New York City's Broadway Theater, Williams performance is the culmination of his sold-out, 26-show U.S. tour, and features his takes on any and every topic, including sex, drugs, rock'-n'-roll, religion, politics...and anything else that might pop into his impossibly fertile mind!

Customer Reviews

The King of Stand-Up Comedy
Whether it's parading around on stage in a frenzy or breaking out into one of many possible impressions/accents, it simply does not get any better than Robin Williams Live when it comes to gut-wrenching laughs.

Williams goes all out in all of his live performances. This particular night he performs live on Broadway (the culmination of a 20+ city national tour, and marking the conclusion of his triumphant, and much-heralded return to the "stage" in over 16 years). And what is the verdict??? BRILLIANCE!! The same brand of raunchy, charismatic, no holds-barred, yet very intelligent humor Williams has been known for.

ONE THING NEEDS TO BE POINTED OUT: Williams' energy is unparalleled in his stand-up work and is NOTHING like his theatrical roles (from Flubber to Insomnia), which only seem to stifle the madman lurking beneath. With uncensored, and essentially unscripted stand-up, Robin is able to reveal his TRUE SELF. However, this is not some mindless rant... Williams seems to emerge from a shell he's been keeping himself in... commentating on social and political issues of the day (from foreign relations, biological warfare, sex, and even sports).

Where this "movie" truly earns 5 STARS is in Williams's performance itself. Sadly, comics today go through "ho-hum" HBO specials like candy (I will not name names), giving audiences and viewers 60-65 minutes. Williams goes non-stop for 2 hours!! And as a result becomes so drenched in sweat by the end, you begin to wonder how he's still standing!

Material-wise, I feel there is no one better, with Williams delivery of quips, jokes, and punchlines only rivaled by George Carlin, and the shows of Eddie Murphy from the early to mid 1980s.

The DVD package, as many other DVDs seem to nowadays, comes with more than anyone could have expected, with behind-the-scenes broadcasts, and a full interview with the maestro himself. The picture and sound quality are superb and nothing seems to have been lost in the transfer.

Bottomline: though perhaps crude at some points, I think that ANYONE with at least a partially open mind and a love for laughs will enjoy this movie. Take it from my mother (a 52 year-old Frenchwoman not necessarily in tune with "hip society") sitting crying from laughter, "He is the best!"

The King of Comedy Raw and Sweaty!
Robin Williams' laugh-riot HBO Special is a no-holds-barred comedy classic and a fitting document of the greatest funnyman of our generation. A master of fast and furious storytelling and 3-dimensional characters, Williams' genius is on full display for nearly two hours. The comedian's charm is evident - he leaps from joke to joke, each bit infused with warmth, irony and his now-trademark stream-of-consciousness dialogue. He draws on contemporary themes and hits every punchline like a concert pianist at the peak of his form. Never before has Williams been so accessible or hysterical and this special guarantees unlimited guffaws and side-splitting routines. He's sweaty and raunchy, childlike and mature all at once. Parents may want to save this DVD for personal viewing, since some bits are drenched in wicked adult humor, though Williams never offends - he gives his all and succeeds. Best of all, the Broadway event gets better on repeat viewings (rare as that is for comedy)so that like Lucille Ball before him (think grape-stomping, vitavitavegimin and chocolate assembly lines) the bits he delivers renew themselves time and time again. If laughter is lacking in your life, do yourself a favor and spend two hours with the Oscar-winning master of comedy.

Frickin' Hilarious
I first saw the tail end of Robin's Broadway show on HBO and laughed till I was crying, and I was absolutely thrilled when they put his show on DVD. It is an excellent purchase if you enjoy Williams' quirky, loud, and animated humor.

His show, which runs over two hours and has very, very few parts that aren't funny, captures the full range of his comic abilities. You get to see Robin impersonate a monkey, a sexually frustrated ape, a little boy, George Bush, an Afghan trying to call a jihad with a mouth full of peanut butter, a drunken Scotsman, a stoner, a drunkard, and a patient recovering from a colonoscopy. His talent for improvising is obvious a few times throughout the show, most notably when he trips over his own tongue and still manages to turn his bungled words into a hysterical joke.

Aside from the show--which any Robin Williams or comedy fan will enjoy--the DVD contains a few amusing extras, most notably a special feature called "noises." This tidbit captures all of the various noises that Robin makes throughout his two hour show and condenses them into about five minutes. Needless to say, this is the funniest thing on the DVD.

Also included is an interview with the director of the show. This has its funny moments and sheds some interesting light onto how the show was produced (it actually didn't start out how it was intended to), and gives us a glimpse of Robin off the stage, but it is cut short, making it a relatively boring special feature after you've seen it once ("noises," on the contrary, can be viewed indefinitely).

The producers of the DVD also included a five minute clip of Robin cracking jokes in the minutes before he was to go onstage. It gives us another glimpse of just how funny he can be without rehearsed jokes, but it falls short of greatness and can only be viewed once or twice.

In short, if you enjoy the energetic style of comedy that Robin Williams exudes, or if you just want to laugh out loud about the absurdity of contemporary events, don't hesitate to add this to your collection. For a more intellectual and original show, however, I highly recommend Eddie Izzard's "Dress To Kill." (90/100)