Alan King: Inside the Comedy Mind, Gold Collection

Compiling 10 half-hour episodes of the late Alan King's HBO interview series with celebrated comedians and comedy writers, Alan King: Inside the Comedy Mind is a decidedly mixed bag. Not only are King's intellectual curiosity and semantic brilliance as a monologist conspicuously absent as an interviewer (and his questions too frequently on the powder puff soft side), but he is sometimes woefully unprepared (the George Carlin interview is full of errors regarding the comedian's biography, though the normally acerbic Carlin carefully corrects King with nary a growl of his trademark agitation). In addition, many of the clips of the comics in action are not their best (the vintage footage of Buddy Hackett's Chinese waiter routine is so unfunny it hurts), and the all-white, all-male, predominantly old school funnymen focus (George Burns, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, and Neil Simon) makes for a somewhat narrow and dated concept of comedy (Dennis Miller and Jerry Seinfeld were the only younger comics featured in this 1991 offering; although the companion volume Alan King: Inside the Comedy Mind, Platinum Collection includes Carol Burnett, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robin Williams). Despite the episodes' faults, King nonetheless lassoed some of the finest raconteurs of the comedy world and their conversations are often enjoyable, especially when the comic stars abandon their trademark lunacy and allow their quieter private sides to make a rare appearance. A strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (P. Hall)