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STUDIO: Entertainment One
MSRP: $14.98
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 75 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Deleted scenes
The Pitch
In a world… where a comedian cannot escape his movie-trailer impression from a decade ago… one man… had one chance… and that chance… was to release more specials. Are you ready… this summer… Pablo Francisco IS…
…El Caballero Sudoroso!!!!
The Humans
Pablo Francisco. Duh.
The Nutshell
If you turned on Comedy Central for any 2 or 3 hour block in the early aughts, you likely caught at least some of Pablo Francisco’s extremely popular Comedy Central Presents in which he lampooned his Keanureevesian (it’s a word now!) male-stripper roommate, mimed the high-heeled rage of Latina girlfriends, and performed his legendarily accurate Don LaFontaine impression. That’s the-movie-trailer-voice-guy, but you already knew that, because you read CHUD!
If you are acquainted, you already know that Pablo’s strength is not in his jokes, which can lean toward the predictable (yes, we already know William Hung is not a strong vocalist) but in his delivery, which is frenetic and infectious. If you prefer comedians that have meaningful things to say about the world or the human condition… seek elsewhere.
Case in point: Unpretentious Dwarf-crunking
Here, Pablo Francisco covers topics such as techno DJ’s, Smart Cars, the family dynamics of little people, infomercials and pornstars. All easy targets (I told you so) but there are also some left-field bits about things like lunch patrons at a strip joint, nervous hispanics and a wildly innaccurate (yet funny) impression of Dennis Haysbert’s All State spokesman.
The Lowdown
There is an anarchy to a Pablo Francisco show that does not typically exist in his specials for good reason; it is unfortunately difficult to capture what it feels like to be trapped in a club among fellow revelers as he burns through jokes with his energy and random vocalizations. He gleans which noises and soundbytes are most successful with the given crowd and presses those buttons at will… and often. This time, consciously or otherwise, this style is captured for the special. While completely successful performed live, it does make this disc seem a little unfocused and blunts the impact of some of the gags. To see him on television performing acapella techno songs is simply not as fun as hearing him blast them through howls of laughter at a club.
That said, the man is undoubtedly funny, and there are some big laughs here, if you go along with the ride. If you like Pablo’s energy, which is easy enough to figure out in this day and age, this set is worth your valuable time. But I don’t think he would mind me telling you (because of course he will be reading this) that for a superior experience, go see him live the next time he’s in town.
Just be forewarned that you may run into these folks.
The Package
There are a few deleted bits, which is not to suggest that Pablo’s act can be broken into independent “bits.” Worth checking out at least once, if only to see the part that involves this:
I won’t spoil it here.
Rating: 
Out of a Possible 5 Stars