Best of the Improv; Funny Ladies Collection

“Iraq? Let's bomb them back to the Stone Age. What's that gonna set ‘em back…three weeks?” That's comic Bill Maher being politically incorrect years before his 1994-2002 series Politically Incorrect got off the ground: although it sounds awfully familiar, Maher is referring to Bush Sr.'s war against Iraq, not Dubya's. Other bits of topical humor don't hold up as well in Best of the Improv and Funny Ladies Collection, two compilations of late ‘80s/early ‘90s humor featuring a who's who (and simply “who?”) roster of comedians in standard seven-minute routines (with some shorter bits). Best of the Improv boasts 56 comics, male and female, including Janeane Garofalo (who riffs on being “low man on the scrotum pole” at L.A. eateries), snarky David Spade, Denis Leary (doing his classic pro-smoking routine, which is still a hoot), Tim Allen (“Men take a day out of their lives to learn how to spit”), a pre-Everybody Loves Raymond Ray Romano, the caustic Will Durst, Judy Tenuta (“Who bought that slut Madonna's book?”), Martin Lawrence, Paula Poundstone (whose babysitting jokes feel a little creepy in light of the recent “child endangerment” charge), Drew Carey, Jeff Foxworthy (doing his trademark “you might be a redneck” bit), Chris Rock, Ellen DeGeneres, and Jerry Seinfeld, among others. The pros shine the brightest, but there are also some good laughs here from the not-so-famous, including Anthony Griffin's homage to Mike Tyson, Dennis Wolfberg's hilarious Lamaze childbirth routine, and John Mulrooney's outrageous “tasting” of a patron's drink (which brings whole new meaning to the term “backwash”). Recommended. Aud: P. Funny Ladies, on the other hand, doesn't provide quite the same laugh ratio: I didn't even know that Morgan Fairchild and Twiggy were “comics” (and still don't), and the topical humor here seemed much more prevalent (Enya, 21 Jump Street, and MacGyver jokes?), while the range followed a predictable arc (dieting, fashions, family, and the “I just got back from…” lead-in). Still, there are some fine comediennes here (a few of whom are duplicated on the Best of the Improv set--Rosie O'Donnell, Rita Rudner, and Tenuta in identical clips; DeGeneres and Garofalo in different routines), and a handful of choice routines from lesser-known funny ladies, including Cathy Ladman (“all religions are basically guilt, with different holidays”), Mary Jo Pehl (who serves up a hilarious, straight-faced account of accidentally locking herself inside her car), and Ellen Cleghorne (a black comedian who imagines a white couple's reaction during her flight: “There's a black woman in first class. She's on her way to The Oprah Winfrey Show. She must have slept with her dog.”). Featuring 32 comics, Funny Ladies Collection features enough knee-slapping moments to make it a strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)