Tex Alexandro
As Much As You Want
DVD or CD
800 Pound Gorilla Records
DVD: 60 minutes
As Much As You Want is the first Ted Alexandro comedy CD or stand-up comedy DVD. Both contain the same material so Alexandro was kind enough to send us the DVD version. Aside from a couple of shots where you see the back of the head of an audience member, As Much As You Want looks and sounds like a well-made good budget Comedy Central or Comedy Channel production so kudos to producer David Lauterbach for that because Alexandro?s standup humor certainly deserves that kind of care and attention.
It is very difficult to pigeonhole Ted Alexandro as a comic. He covers autobiographical and observational jokes but can also do political humour, funny stuff about relationships, family humor. He can be edgy, as with his Rosa Parks and President Bush bits but can also do interesting interpersonal relationship stuff like when he muses about people insisting on telling you their dreams.
As Much As You Want is a little misleading in that it is some 60 minutes long but you generally want more. The Mystery section of the DVD that includes the Jesus Abs joke, a funny joke about accountants for rap stars, a clever and tight joke about naps being like suicide, and a bit about how we all enjoy cleavage season is but one of the 8 tracks on this Ted Alexandro comedy DVD whose titles usually reveal but the surface of the material inside. Unfortunately, the last two sections, Teaching and The Law are not, relatively speaking, as strong as the rest of this very good comedy DVD.
Alexandro also shows off his talents for the segue, has a couple of long-term recalls that really work, and puts on a solid performance throughout. There are, unfortunately, a couple of moments when the stand-up comic has the mic in the wrong place so the sound level suffers but these are few and far between and do not hinder the enjoyment of this really good and funny comedy DVD.
If you have to choose between the DVD or CD version of As Much As You Want, choose the DVD. It includes the weirdest commentary track I have ever heard. On this commentary track, New-York comic Alexandro discusses the show with his “comedy personal trainer” Jean Michel and I still can’t figure out if this guy is for real or if this is just a weird and very funny practical joke. Jean Michel is basically The Peter Principle cubed. This is a guy who deems himself an expert comedy counselor to Alexandro but he hates comedy and suffers from stage fright.
Ted Alexandro As Much As You Want audio download version is now re-released by 800 Pound Gorilla Records