The Best of Insomniac Uncensored, Vol. 2 (2002)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Produced & Directed by Nick McKinney and Dave Hamilton
Hosted by Dave Attell

Features:

• Uncensored deleted scenes
  
• Running audio commentary by Attell and producers McKinney and Hamilton
  

Released by: Comedy Central Home Video
Region: 1
Rating: TV-MA
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in original 1.33:1 aspect

My Advice: Rent it if you're a fan of the show or a student of nocturnal subcultures

Born out of too many bored and sleepless nights on the road for comic Dave Attell, Insomniac is an exploration of what goes on in the world after most of us are cozily in bed and sleeping. Every episode finds Attell in a new city with a night to kill and an (apparently) significant bankroll. He wanders from place to place, drinking, smoking, making weird friends, and discovering some of the most unlikely activities that one can engage in at 3:00 a.m. in Boise. Part comedy, part travelogue, and part investigation of the human condition, Insomniac is a show that defies easy categorization.

The shows are also, as advertised in the title, uncensored. While this does lead to some cheap, visceral, "Girls Gone Wild" kinds of moments, mostly this just means you can hear Dave and his myriad acquaintances swearing. Not a huge deal. Except for the Amsterdam and Key West episodes, that's all there is to it. I'm sure the gang at Comedy Central are hoping that the "Uncensored" label will draw over more of their Man Show audience, but people looking for cheap TV porn would be better off elsewhere.

Attell is the perfect host for this show, with a self-effacing manner that keeps him from taking himself too seriously in the role of insomniac correspondent. He also has the alcohol tolerance of an entire fraternity, as he's pounding drinks back pretty much constantly over the course of the evening, though never coming off as particularly wasted. He manages lucid conversations well past the point where most of the hardened drinkers I've known would be unconscious. Herein lies one of the show's weaknesses, as well...watching Dave Attell get drunk on somebody else's dime in locations all over the world both gets repetitive and awakens the green-eyed monster, who would love to know why nobody ever offered me such a gig.

For straight comedy, the show's hit or miss. If Attell gets a good crew at a party or something to work with, he can be pretty funny. For the most part, though, it's only as funny as watching a tired stand-up comic bar-hop could be expected to be. He finds a few non-bar activities that are of note, though...the midnight skeet shoot in Boise, riding around with a very cool street-sweeper in NYC, or talking to the world's most notorious art forger in Amsterdam. This is where the show is at its best: Attell hanging out with the late-night people -- not the party animals and bar crowd, but the regular folk that simply operate in the dark due to job, circumstance, or preference. Attell meets some singularly interesting people in these moments, and treats them with a respect and sense of fairness that I didn't expect from a jaded stand-up, used to making targets out of everybody.

This set contains episodes shot in Las Vegas, Amsterdam, Key West, Miami, Boise, Kansas City, Anchorage, New York City, Charleston, and Austin, with commentary on select episodes and a stack of deleted scenes. This is definitely worth a rental if you're interested in the insomniac life and the sorts of people that populate it. It's also surprisingly handy if you're planning a vacation to any of the visited cities, as Attell tries to point out some interesting attractions for visitors while he's cruising the streets.