Laughs -- but nothing else

Spike Lee's 'Original Kings Of Comedy' documents little

In this story: The 'kings' Few insights RELATED SITE

By Paul Clinton
CNN.com Reviewer

(CNN) -- "The Original Kings of Comedy" is not the director's cut of Martin Scorsese's 1983 film starring Robert DeNiro and Jerry Lewis.

No, this is a documentary from director Spike Lee featuring the comedic stylings of four African-American comedians, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric The Entertainer and Bernie Mac. The quartet has been touring the country since 1997 in a show billed as "The Kings of Comedy."

Filmed at a live sold-out show in Charlotte, North Carolina, this documentary is raw, funny, filthy and in your face. More of a concert-event film than a traditional documentary, "The Original Kings Of Comedy" follows in the footsteps of "Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip" (1982). "Eddie Murphy Raw" (1987) and and Martin Lawrence's "You So Crazy" (1994). But it doesn't offer enough in its too-long running time of nearly two hours.

Steve Harvey is the star of the "Steve Harvey Show" on the WB Network and probably is the best known of the group. He serves as the host of the evening and introduces his fellow comics. Harvey's humor is the most accessible to a general audience, though it's directed at his core fan base of fellow African-Americans.

D.L. Hughley stars in the ABC comedy "The Hughleys." His comic shtick is complaining, and it works. He's acerbic and funny as he whines about everyday life.

Cedric The Entertainer -- he dubbed himself "The Entertainer" early in his career so he could be known as "more than just a comic" -- is like your favorite giggly uncle. For example, in discussing the possibilities of America ever having an African-American president, he says, "Come on, ya'll. Now, you know we got Clinton -- that's close. He's got negro tendencies." Bernie Mac, the last act on the bill, is the bad boy of the group, saying things no one else dares utter. You may or may not find his musings on child abuse amusing. He refers to his 6-year-old nephew as a "faggot" and says at one point, about his own son, "I'll kick my kid in his sleep, I'll beat his ass." But he also has a hilarious routine about rap music.

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Much of the comedy is based on the cultural differences between white folks and black folks.

Hughley, for example, does a routine in which he observes that only white people bungee jump: It's too much like a lynching for black people, says Hughley, who adds that he gets enough excitement just being black.

Harvey does a riff on the Titanic, whose band was purported to have played while the great ship slipped beneath the waves. "What black band you know gonna keep playing with the damn ship going down?" he asks. "Kool And The Gang would have been unplugged!"

These kings, who were well received by their Charlotte audience, eventually walk off the stage without the viewer knowing any more about them than when the film began. Lee reveals very little about the men behind the laughter, and tells you nothing about their backgrounds.

This is mainly a concert film, one that wears out its welcome long before the credits roll.

All four men are sharp, their routines finely tuned, but Lee didn't know when to pull the plug. This is a wait-for-the-video offering -- one in which the "fast forward" button is your friend.

"The Original Kings of Comedy" opens nationwide on Friday and is rated R for language. 117 minutes.

The Original Kings of Comedy

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