Mooney uses raw humor to discuss stereotypes
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Paul Mooney
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By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
Two animated productions, something that might make you a bit angry and a comedian who works without a net are all featured in this week's DVD column.
The Milton the Monster Show: The Complete Season
I'm not sure just who at Shout Factory is a buff of obscure television animation, but whoever it is let me say "Thanks!" The company, which specializes in digging up pop culture gems, has just released the collected "The Milton the Monster Show."
Produced by the late Hal Seeger, "Milton" was an animated series that ran on ABC in 1965 and '66. It was clearly an animated way to ride the trend set by "The Addams Family" and "The Munsters," and it largely succeeded. The cartoons have a wit about them that many animated offerings from the same period lacked.
Milton isn't much of a monster he looks like a big friendly guy except smokes comes out of his head. His creator, Professor Weirdo, is disappointed in his lack of evil and is often trying to get rid of him.
Cartoons featuring other characters, including the lucky cowboy detective Flukey Luke and the superhero parody Fearless Fly, accompanied the Milton shorts. Some of the other supporting cartoons are a bit painful to sit through those with insufferable bad girl Penny Penguin were just awful, for instance.
Seeger had worked for the Fleischer Studios (which produced the Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman cartoons, among others) and he used many of his Fleischer colleagues including animators Myron Waldman and Shamus Culhane and voice actor and writer Jack Mercer.
While the animation is limited, the cleverness of the scripts frequently makes up the deficit.
Milton is a monster animation fans won't fear getting to know.
For more information, log onto www.shoutfactory.com.
Bullsh*t: The Complete Fourth Season
Penn and Teller's newest season of their in-your-face series has now been released on home video and the pair are sure to offend you at some point during the 10 half-hour episodes.
The premise of the show is the magicians/actors/atheists/con men look at a subject defined by conventional wisdom and deconstruct it in a generally profane but hilarious way hilarious, of course, as long as they're not goring your ox.
Among their targets this season are:
- The Boy Scouts why should federal money go to an organization that discriminates against gays and atheists?
- Prostitution what's the harm in making it legal?
- Reparations should the federal government pay people for the sins of the past?
Now some people will think the pair tips the scales in their own direction their look at cryptozoology was definitely slanted by interviewing the worst "experts" possible but the one thing they will do is create food for thought.
Now, if the repeated use of profanity offends you, then please skip this show. If you're up for some intellectual jousting, check it out.
For more information, log into www.paramount.com/homeentertainment.
Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms
This animated feature was first broadcast on The Cartoon Network last year and is now on DVD with a ton of extras and a 32-page comic book, to boot.
I've been a fan of Mike Mignola's comic books for years. Hellboy was a baby demon that was rescued from a group of Nazis during the Second World War by Allied troops. His existence has been kept from the rest of the world and as an adult he now works for the Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense, a government agency that "bumps back the things that go bump in the night."
Mignola's hero is a masterful combination of a hero with a dark side in this case as dark as it gets with the morality of a classic gumshoe like Sam Spade.
The character proved to be a hit with a live action movie and this animated one reunited Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones with the roles they played in the live action film.
The new animated film puts Hellboy in Japan where he an other members of the Bureau must understand why a noted professor has turned loose a pair of ancient Japanese demons.
The animation is well done this could have been a theatrical feature and I think it will satisfy both fans of the comic as well as those who just know Hellboy through the live action film.
For more information, go to www.gotohellboy.com.
Paul Mooney: Know Your History Jesus was Black.So was Cleopatra
Paul Mooney has been described as a comedian's comedian. Mooney gained prominence in the 1970s as a writer for his friend Richard Pryor. Mooney was also a cast member on Pryor's highly acclaimed television shows and was the head writer for the first season of "In Living Color." He's the guy who created "Homey the Clown."
Most recently Mooney was a cast member and writer on "The Dave Chappelle Show" and was known for the re-occurring bit of "Negrodamus."
Most recently Mooney was in the news when Michael Richards had his on-stage meltdown using the "N-word." Mooney defended Richards and declared that he would stop using the word himself in his act.
This hour-plus performance, though, was taped last summer before Mooney's self-imposed prohibition. So, if the repeated use of the "N-word" bothers you, then avoid this DVD.
Mooney doesn't seem to have a set act unlike other comics. He comes onto the stage, settles down on a stool with a bottle of water near-by and begins talking. His monologue seems largely improvised and like some streams of consciousness some of it can be funny while some just misses the mark.
Much of what Mooney speaks about is the perceptions that black and white Americans have about each other and themselves. He clearly wants to be confrontational and when a white couple walks out of his performance he views it as a victory.
If raw humor and adult language are not to your liking, then stay away from this DVD. If you're ready to rumble, though, Mooney may be your man.
For more information, log onto www.image-entertainment.com.
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