It's not like Rita Rudner is breaking new ground with this standup performance, recorded live at Harrah's Casino for a PBS special on the occasion of her 2,000th Las Vegas show. But in a Superbad world of coarse and crude comedy, some will find a certain comfort in a good old-fashioned my-mom-was-a-bad-cook joke (“We didn't have leftovers; we had evidence”). Rudner is the reigning queen of comfort comedy, and while her jokes are sometimes uneven here, a definite elegance informs her Mars/Venus observations. When her husband points out, “You only have two feet. Why so many shoes?” her response is, “You only have two eyes. Why so many channels?” Rudner shares with Joan Rivers (albeit, Rudner is much more polite and politic) a “can we talk” rapport with her audience, offering men a fantastic voyage into “a woman's brain,” but while the fiftysomething comic gets some mileage out of the perils of aging, the former dancer looks fabulous and her attempts at self-deprecating humor about her appearance fall flat. An hour of clean comedy (the bonus segments in which Rudner visits such Vegas institutions as Chippendales and local oddities such as a ventriloquists' wedding are slightly more risqué), this is a strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (D. Liebenson)
Rita Rudner: Live from Las Vegas
(2008) 62 min. DVD: $14.98. Image Entertainment (avail. from most distributors). Volume 23, Issue 6
Rita Rudner: Live from Las Vegas
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