Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show
Directed by: Ari Sandel
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Justin Long, John Caparulo, Ahmed Ahmed, Bret Ernst, Sebastian Maniscalco, Keir O’Donnell

A couple of years ago, Vince Vaughn decided to round up a bunch of friends and hit the road, putting on a comedy show of sorts. They planned to hit 30 cities across America in 30 days, and they hired a camera crew to capture all of the insanity on tape. The result was Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show.

Ever since Jerry Seinfeld’s popular film Comedian, there have been a lot of comics trying to get some attention by passing off their stand up videos as documentaries. Record the live show, mix in a little behind the scenes footage, and voila… instant film festival favourite, right? Uh… no, not necessarily. (Don’t even get me started on The Aristocrats.) But still, the charisma of Vince Vaughn drew me to this film, and I was hoping he would deliver something worthwhile.

Although I’m not a huge fan of stand up comedy, Vaughn is one of those guys that can make me laugh at the drop of a hat. He just seems to be able to effortlessly generate humour and goodwill around him. I don’t even know whether he has ever done stand up before, but I hoped that any comedians he had handpicked to go on tour with him would be up to the task (even if they seemed, at first glance, to be just a bunch of frat boys).

Indeed, it didn’t take long for John Caparulo, Ahmed Ahmed, Bret Ernst, and Sebastian Maniscalco to win me over. Despite their cool guy exteriors and almost stereotypical stand-up schticks, the minute they began to reveal insecurities about their acts and their lives, and kid around with each other backstage, it was hard not to root for them. Each of them deliver laughs, and yes, even offer some insight into the art of stand up.

More importantly though, the movie works as more than just a live comedy video. They mix the on-stage material with the back story of each comic, and also add road footage in a way that is consistently engaging. There are interesting little sidebars involving some of the different cities they visit (including Ahmed Ahmed’s story about being arrested in Vegas post-9/11 just because he was Arabic). In fact, I think the movie is probably about 50% off-stage. The one misstep here was a strange shift in focus during Hurricane Katrina, when they are forced to reschedule a few shows. The comedians visit a trailer park where many families have been evacuated and hand out free tickets to the show. Although, in the end, the comedians seem genuinely moved by the experience, the inclusion of something like this in the movie just feels half-assed and a bit exploitative.

That aside, if you’re not all that interested in the four comedians or the road trip itself, as long as you’re a fan of Vince Vaughn, you’ll still find some worthwhile material in the film. Jon Favreau joins him on-stage at the beginning for a sketch involving a well-known scene from Swingers, and there’s also a history lesson on Vince Vaughn’s career that involves an appearance from Peter Billingsley (better known as Ralphie from A Christmas Story). They first met doing an After School Special about steroids (which we get to see a clip from) and now he produces a lot of Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau’s movies. Justin Long and Keir O’Donnell (Wedding Crashers) also pop in from time to time.

Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show is not a groundbreaking documentary, nor is it the funniest stand-up film I’ve ever seen, but it is enjoyable and easy to watch. Each of the comedians hold their own on-stage, and the movie even has some rather heartfelt moments, if you can believe it. For what it is, I was pleasantly surprised, and I think you will be too. — Sean

SCORE:

Recommended If You Like: Comedian, Swingers, Dane Cook's Tourgasm

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