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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

It All Started Here

Robert Klein

HBO · 1995 · 55 min

A twentieth-anniversary hour of musical comedy and mid-90s observations.

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Twenty years after fronting HBO’s first stand-up broadcast, Robert Klein returned to the network for his sixth hour to mark the anniversary. Backed by a live band, the veteran comic leans heavily into the realities of his fifties. He complains about hair loss, AARP memberships, and the inherent indignities of a hospital stay, shifting between conversational stand-up and musical interludes.

Filmed in Metuchen, New Jersey, the 1995 set balances then-current fixations like the O.J. Simpson trial with reliable gripes about game shows and the specifics of Jewish burials. It is a comfortable performance from a professional who already helped define the television comedy format. Naturally, he finishes the night with a rendition of his trademark blues parody, “I Can’t Stop My Leg.”

The set list

3 bits

  1. The O.J. Simpson trial

    Riffing on the then-ongoing trial

  2. John Gotti

    Comedic observations regarding mob boss John Gotti

  3. I Can't Stop My Leg

    A retro musical version of his signature comedy routine performed with The Robert Klein Orchestra

How it plays

Tone
Deadpan and observational
On stage
Dry, observational, deadpan, and witty
About
Aging and getting older, The O.J. Simpson trial, John Gotti

What the critics said

Reviewers noted that his wit had not dulled despite his advancing age and graying hair, though some critics found his work more thought-provoking and consistently amusing than laugh-out-loud funny

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: themoviedb.org, allmovie.com, thecouchcritic.com, swank.com, dvdtalk.com, fulvuedrive-in.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Filmed against the backdrop of the then-ongoing O.J. Simpson murder trial; the special marked 20 years since Klein starred in HBO's very first standup special in 1975, opening with vintage clips from his first five HBO specials

Details

Released
Taped
Forum Theater, Metuchen
Runtime
55 min
Where
HBO
Director
John Fortenberry
Topics
Before
Let's Not Make Love (1990)
After
Child in His 50s (2000)

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