Eddie Griffin: You Can Tell ‘Em I Said It (2011)

 

Number Rolled: 97

Movie Name/Year: Eddie Griffin: You Can Tell ‘Em I Said It (2011)

Tagline: None

Genre: Comedy

Length: 82 minutes

Rating:  TV-MA

Production Companies: Front of the Bus, New Wave Entertainment, Comedy Dynamics

Producer: Jay Chapman, Ann Flagella, Eddie Griffin, Barry Katz, Eric Kritzer, Lee Lyfe, Brian Volk-Weiss

Director: Jay Karas

Writer: Eddie Griffin

Actors: Eddie Griffin

Blurb from Netflix: The star of movies like Undercover Brother and Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigalo, comedian Eddie Griffin gets back into his comfort zone on the stage in this live Comedy Central stand-up special filmed in Oakland, Calif.

Selina’s Point of View:

I enjoyed this special.

Initially, I mixed up Eddie Griffin’s (Scary Movie 3, Malcolm & Eddie, The Mod Squad) brand of comedy with another stand-up comedian’s. Because I don’t like the person I mixed him up with, I had very low expectations for You Can Tell ‘Em I Said It. Luckily, I was wrong.

Despite my enjoyment of this stand-up project, let me be absolutely crystal clear. If you are easily offended, this special is NOT for you.

Griffin is an equal-opportunity offender. His comedy directs offense at everyone from members of his own race, to the elderly, to the Chinese, to today’s youth, to Christians, to white people, to Muslims…. Etc. Almost every one of his jokes was designed to offend someone.

Personally, I enjoy that kind of comedy. Dark comedies are my favorite. Sure, if I believed hell existed I’d think I was going there for some of the shit I laugh at… but who cares?

There was a touch of politics in it, which made me sigh because I’m so sick of politics it’s ridiculous. It’s especially annoying because I know I’ll have to defend my perspective on Griffin’s humor, because he tells racially motivated jokes and yet I despise Donald Trump. I will say one thing, and then I hope to never mention Trump’s name again on this blog: I hold my president to higher standards than any entertainer. It’s really that simple.

Moving on.

Comedy is at the top of my list of things I want to watch right now. Whenever shit gets bad in the world I turn to comedy. Hell, when I met my husband he was doing the ‘shock jock’ thing on a podcast that interviewed stand-up comedians and porn stars. He’s a shining light of comedy, which is what drew me to him in the first place.

That being said, I think Eddie Griffin is hilarious, but I’m not easily offended. I know my mother would have hated this special, so I wouldn’t recommend it to people like her. However, if you’re a fan of dark stand-up comedy then you won’t want to skip this one.

Cat’s Point of View:

My husband and I have really enjoyed watching Eddie Griffin’s (Date Movie, Redline, American Hero) work in the past. Some of my favorites of his are Foolish (1999), Double Take (2001), and The New Guy (2002). When he does that “crazy eye” thing, it’s just a riot. Better yet – the way to discourage religious door-knockers from sticking around is comedy gold.

Before I start chanting “chicken chicken chicken chicken chicken” and mumbling incoherent gibberish for old time’s sake; I’ll go back to reviewing this particular comedy special featuring Eddie’s stand-up.

I’m not going to sugar coat it. I wasn’t a huge fan of this one.

A lot of that probably has a great deal to do with timing. With everything happening in the world right now; his political and cultural humor just missed its mark.

There were segments of this show that I did enjoy, so it wasn’t a total miss. The man is seriously hilarious; and I’m rather disappointed that I watched the majority of this one without laughter.

For the parents out there – this was one of those Comedy Central specials with the ‘mature audiences’ advisory. It definitely was not mislabeled as such.

My recommendation this time is to go and watch some of Eddie Griffin’s other work, rather than this show.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – No Result Found

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – No Result Found

Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 2.5/5

Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 3.5/5

Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 2.5/5

Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 2.5/5

Movie Trailer: