Ralphie May – Austin-tatious
(Image Entertainment)

Reality TV has bought wonders into our lives such as getting to see the washed up lead singer of Poison have sex with a bus load of cheesed out women and showing us that little people can farm (and then get busted for drinking and driving just like our weird Uncle that we avoid at family parties) but it’s also brought us a hand full of comics via Last Comic Standing that were funny but not quite ready for the big stage and Ralphie May is one of them. Even reality television’s 15 minutes of fame is worth something and rather than working the Thursday open mike at the Velveeta Room, the exposure of Last Comic Standing has allowed comics such as Ralphie May to jump ahead in the game but after watching his newly released comedy DVD Austin-tatious it’s obvious that this too comes with a cost.

While Ralphie is no doubt a funny guy (and certainly funnier than Dat Phan), he isn’t yet 99 minutes funny and more importantly much of his humor is expected, typical, and …hate to say it- hack. His set list is as follows- fat joke, dick joke, racial joke, and repeat and while he does bring a few original and personal notes to the chorus it’s not nearly enough. These are the same jokes you hear from your funny landscaper or the loveable alcoholic at every bar in America and although they do work and elicit laughter, it’s just the same old thing and Ralphie doesn’t bring anything new to the game. There are moments when he appears to be on the verge of something interesting such as when he describes having meaningful sex with his pregnant wife and gets real for a moment but then blows it on a punch line that doesn’t carry the weight- “once your child gives you the mummy in the sandstorm I’m tapping out”

About 40 minutes in he gets to some of his core material that he’s been doing for a number of years which is noticeably better and shows Ralphie’s potential but it’s followed with a “yo mama” joke and more of the same so it doesn’t pan out. On the plus side is the fact that stupid people need to laugh too so until Ralphie tightens up his material, his DVDs will keep that weird Uncle of ours laughing while he waits for someone to bail him out.

Tim Needles