More a clip show than a real stand-up special—and certainly not a documentary about the New York-based comedy club—The Improv: 60 and Still Standing only really seems to be for the most hardcore devotees of American stand-up. But even if you are familiar with all the comics who make an appearance here, the film doesn’t give their already brief routines enough time to breathe. They’ve ostensibly been instructed to prepare their best stuff or to just riff, and the resulting performances are very half-baked, with none of the comedians able to dive into any particularly funny or challenging material. They’re all still lightly amusing in different ways, but this movie really could’ve just been a series of YouTube videos to commemorate The Improv’s 60th anniversary.
Ten top comics hit the stage to celebrate the 60th anniversary of The Improv comedy club in this special featuring archival footage of iconic performers.
Excerpts from the 60th anniversary celebration of the titular comedy club franchise, featuring short sets from a variety of current comedians and archival footage of classic comics performing at the original venue.
If there's anything that can be taken from 60 and Still Standing, it's the sheer variety of comedians that The Improv has given a platform to, vaguely communicating the kind of openness and inclusivity that the club has promised from its beginnings. There are brash comics like Bert Kreischer, deadpan comics like Mark Normand, ventriloquist comedian Jeff Dunham, and whatever the hell Craig Robinson was doing for his set. However, somehow the night's most memorable performer was Filipino-American Jo Koy, whose comedy usually relies far too heavily on the same shallow jokes about Filipino culture and his mom's accent. But for this performance, he becomes much more relaxed and much more emotional, being the only person in the film to talk about what The Improv means to him, especially as a father. It's a weirdly poignant moment of vulnerability that the rest of the special could have actually used more of.
Love or hate this special, we can all agree that Craig Robinson was blazed out of his damn mind that night.
