Comedian Robert Klein riffs on hypocritical political leaders and other irritants in his ninth HBO special, filmed at the Amaturo Theater in Fort Lauderdale. Opening with a song—backed by the University of Miami's Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra—about the current president, Klein asks that Obama learn from the mistakes of his predecessors. Jokes about Bill Clinton's sexual indiscretions seem tired at this point, but some standup comedians are apparently loathe to let them go; he also berates John Edwards, Mark Sanford, and Eliot Spitzer for their inability to honor their marriage vows (although Klein is equally hard on Larry Craig, who lobbied against gay marriage only to wind up caught in a compromising “wide stance” position in a men's bathroom stall). From there, Klein moves on to infomercials, medical terms, daytime talk shows, and the rigors of aging (“Try opening a CD,” he says, “in less than two, three hours”), while also talking about his acting career in films like Goosed (with Joan Rivers) and TV shows such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where he played an attorney. Klein tones the humor down when talking about some of his favorite performers, including Steely Dan and Jonathan Winters, and toward the end of the show he works in a reggae number about medical marijuana. Klein isn't a great singer (or harmonica player), but it's hard to argue when he describes Sarah Palin as the Dan Quayle of our day. A strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (K. Fennessy)
Robert Klein: Unfair & Unbalanced
(2010) 60 min. DVD: $19.98. HBO Home Entertainment (avail. from most distributors). Closed captioned. ISBN: 0-7806-6541-4. Volume 26, Issue 2
Robert Klein: Unfair & Unbalanced
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