Theo Von: No Offense (2016)

Streaming Service: Netflix

Movie Name/Year: Theo Von: No Offense (2016)

Genre: Documentary, Comedy

Length: 67 minutes

Rating: NR

Production/Distribution: Comedy Dynamics, New Wave Entertainment, Netflix

Director: John Asher

Writer: Theo Von

Actors: Theo Von

Blurb from IMDb: Southern comedian Theo Von offers up a twisted take on his dating mishaps, meeting Brad Pitt, chasing down fugitive chimpanzees and more.

Selina’s Point of View:

With a title like Theo Von: No Offense, you have to expect a stand-up set full of offensive comedy. Luckily, I tend to like some edge to my stand-up, so I didn’t really feel the need to prepare myself at all. If you’re a little more thin-skinned, though, I would recommend giving yourself some extended prep time or not watching at all.

Theo Von (Bobby Khan's Ticket to Hollywood, Why? With Hannibal Buress, The Story of Our Times) got about as offensive as I thought he would. He discussed everything from mundane subjects – such as meeting Brad Pitt – to incredibly touchy subjects like child molestation.

In a special like this one, you need to make sure you don’t take anything too seriously. You know the comedian is going to go balls out, so you have to remember that it’s all a persona, everything is a joke and likely doesn’t represent how he really thinks. A lot of the time, people forget that.

As for the actual content, some of it was funny and some of it just didn’t hit for me.

For the parts that were good, they got some small chuckles out me. Nothing had me really roaring with laughter, but it captured my attention enough that I did give a few giggles. Unfortunately, none of those moments really lasted long enough before he felt like he was trying way too hard again.

I want to stress that my dislike has nothing to do with offense – the jokes and the delivery just weren’t good at times.

For example, take some classic controversial comedians like Andrew Dice Clay (Entourage, Whatever it Takes, No Contest) or Dave Chappelle (Chappelle's Show, Half Baked, Laugh Factory). They have content that relies on offensiveness, but when they’re doing a special, you can’t look away. Their delivery is sharp and it catches you off-guard enough that even if you are offended, it’ll get that knee-jerk laugh out of you before you can stop it. Theo Von didn’t quite get that.

Von was more on the predictable side. He tried to be offensive instead of falling into it more naturally. It the end, the special felt a little forced and unnecessary.

One of our readers recommended this special to us, so I tried to watch it with even more of an open mind than I normally do, but it just didn’t click with me.

Cat’s Point of View:

The world is sort-of inside out and upside down right now. We’re all shaken up to one degree or another because of the pandemic. Laughter is an excellent stress reliever. What better time to watch a comedy special, right?

Wrong.

I feel myself beginning to channel Yosemite Sam. What in tarnation did I just watch? That was a waste of an hour.

I have sat here and tried – TRIED hard, mind you – to come up with something positive to say about the Theo Von: No Offense stand-up special. I’m the eternal optimist that can find something positive in everything. I’ve got nothing.

I wasn’t laughing. That was pretty much the sum of it. I believe that the set was organized intentionally to offend as many people as possible, in order to make the title seem even more sarcastic. If that was the case, they were wildly successful. I wasn’t amused by the ploy, however.

There were a few moments, and I use that period of time generously, that I half-chuckled. Then the comedian said something else that wasn’t funny and nuked the laughter before it even fully formed.

Dave Chapelle: Sticks and Stones (2019) was more successful at getting me to laugh. Even then, I only enjoyed the epilogue after the actual show was over.

I don’t find bully humor funny, and that’s really what this show came across as. Making fun of people with disabilities, ethnic groups, and gay people squarely puts you into that category for me. It wasn’t tastefully done. I’m embarrassed this guy came from Louisiana, honestly.

Larry the Cable Guy (Witless Protection, A Madea Christmas, Cars 3) has more class than this guy, and he has some messed up jokes – which part of his schtick is apologizing afterward.

Maybe it’s Theo Von’s delivery. I don’t know. What I do know is that I will be praying that we don’t end up watching another one of this Von’s comedy sets any time soon, or ever again.

I can’t see myself recommending this.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None

Metascore – None

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 5.6/10

CinemaScore – None

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 1/5

Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: R

Movie Trailer:

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: