 Wanda Sykes: Tongue Untied (2003) Wanda Sykes is the best, although Tongue Untied doesn't make the best case for her stand-up. More or less a Comedy Central special without the commercials, the DVD is about what you'd expect … slick and smooth, kinda hilarious, kinda predictable.Wanda's best when she's going off the cuff, and the prepared material of her routine is, sadly, on par with other good comedians of our day … a few too many "men and women" observations, a few too many airport security jokes, etc. Of course, Wanda delivers these things much better than your average comic, with impeccable timing and probably the greatest vocal inflections of any current stand-up. Even when she's not saying things that make you pee your pants, she's still funny, just by virtue of being Wanda. The topical humor is offset by some great anachronistic references that come just enough out of nowhere to produce hearty laughter, my favorite being her remark that marriage is unnecessary unless you're "sickly." Again, it's not always what she says, but the way she says it. The editing is irritating—every five or six minutes, the show cuts away for commercials that obviously are not forthcoming. I'd have preferred a full, profanity-laced show instead of a tempered cash-in on Wanda's rising star. Let's have it! Gimme Wanda's Richard Pryor Live On the Sunset Strip! She's up to it. Tongues Untied will do in the meantime, though. The DVD adds some bonus stuff, the best of which is a clip from Dave Chappelle's show—a "Trading Spaces" parody in which a black and white couple trade spouses—that was a lot funnier than I'd have imagined possible.
Review by Big Morgan |