Steven Wright: When the Leaves Blow Away

Dry, wry and hilariously deadpan, Steven Wright unleashes a torrent of ironic and hysterical thought-provoking one-liners in the quirky stand-up style that has become his trademark. From Toronto's historic Elgin Theater, this Oscar-winning comedian -- #23 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-up performers of all time -- keeps an adoring audience in stitches with random observations on everything from baby monitors as a form of wiretapping to his addiction to placebos. The party continues with a Boston Comedy Club performance from the comic's early career, and Steven explores the meaning of life in his short film One Soldier, which he also wrote and directed.

Ok so the title to the review is punny, but so is Steven Wright. One of the smartest comedians ever, He's in top form in his drab, odd offbeat comedy, often saying jokes that take 3-5 seconds to sink in before you chuckle or bust out laughing. Wright is at his best when he's at his drollest and the pacing of this standup is vintage Steven Wright. If you like your comedy to be smart and not need F bombs and cussing the get a laugh out of you, you should definitely see, listen and learn from one of the best.

I was introduced to Steve Wright's work during an acupuncture/massage therapy session & laughed until the tears were running down my face; maybe it was a temporary euphoria thing (or maybe this vid was not representative of the rest of his stuff - I hope not!), but it was mind-numbingly boring. I kept waiting for the slyly relevant zingers I remembered from the CD I'd heard, but they were woefully scarce. I even closed my eyes to ascertain if it was a visual thing. Not so. Perhaps I should try a CD or another vid.

I bought this because Steven Wright's "I Have a Pony" is one of my favorite comedy albums of all time. I've listened to "I Have A Pony" dozens of times and it still makes me laugh. In this DVD Steven Wright is a little harder to understand because he does mumble as other reviewers have said. (It's not just me - my husband had trouble understanding him too.) So you have to pay close attention to really get everything. His timing is incredible - the stand-up routine is 42 minutes of one-liners timed so that just as you're starting to realize how funny the preceding nonsequiter was, he hits you with another one. If you liked the song "Rachel" from "I Have A Pony," you will find more of the same great comic songs during which Wright accompanies himself on an acoustic guitar. He seems to be actually a pretty good guitarist, which makes me wish someone would put together a DVD of just his songs (I assume he has more).

The short B&W film on this DVD is inconsistent, however, with the stand-up routines, but the advertisements don't really explain that, otherwise I would have given it a "5." The short film is not only (as other reviewers have said) dark and nihilistic, but . . . well, kind of creepy. Still, I really enjoyed the stand-up. I thought the DVD was worth it for that alone. If you like Mitch Hedberg and Demetri Martin, you will probably like this as well.

I purchased this disc thinking that it was an actual stand-up routine. I does indeed have a stand-up routine on the disc but only about half of it. The other half is a "movie" that is not that funny and makes no sense at all. Pick another Steven Wright release.

a man that uses ontological dadaism as a source of comedy - this man is a
genius. I bought a vhs of his about 20 years ago that was on a par with
this concert, arguably his best two. His comedy must be experienced about 5 times to fully grasp the nested sublevels of his humour. Glad to see him back in the form he is a master of, instead of those insipid TV appearances.
Welcome back, Steven!!