Denis Leary - No Cure For Cancer (DVD)

...special featuring that set. As Denis Leary is very much an 'adult' comic, the DVD carries an 18 certificate due to the strength of language and drug references. If this type of thing offends you, please don't read on, I'll put some quotes at the end, and even though I'll disguise the fruitier words with ***, I'm sure you'll still guess.

Denis Leary:
A veteran of 40 plus movies, Denis Leary is probably best known as the main ...
...the F*** Up, by Dr. Denis Leary'. Patients come in. 'Doctor I-' Shut the F*** up! NEXT!! 'Doctor, I've got this-' SHUT THE F*** UP!! NEXT! 'He made me feel so much better. He just told me to shut the f*** up. Nobody ever told me that before!'

His outrage at the world makes for pretty funny stuff, but in this set the shadow of Hicks falls quite heavily. I think he's at his funniest when describing his childhood and relationships with ... more

Recorded in 1993, the live audio recording of No Cure for Cancer was an extremely successful comedy release, and this DVD contains the Showtime special featuring that set. As Denis Leary is very much an 'adult' comic, the DVD carries an 18 certificate due to the strength of language and drug references. If this type of thing offends you, please don't read on, I'll put some quotes at the end, and even though I'll disguise the fruitier words with ***, I'm sure you'll still guess.

Denis Leary:
A veteran of 40 plus movies, Denis Leary is probably best known as the main character Tommy Gavin in the very successful US drama series 'Rescue Me'. However, he cut his teeth as a successful stand up comic, and he maintains this is where he is most comfortable. You may remember he first came to attention with short, ranting vox pops to camera on MTV.

Controversy has followed him, with his act being rude, aggressively presented and notoriously un-pc. Offstage, the similarity of his material to that of the late (and great) Bill Hicks has led to numerous accusations of plagiarism. As a fan of both, I can certainly see the argument, but where Hicks' delivery set up his legendary explosions of bile with a more laconic, occasionally surreal and intellectual style, Leary is usually in full rant pretty much out of the gate, and carries off his 'regular guy really pissed off' persona extremely well.

The set:
The live performance opens with a rendition of his famous song 'A**hole,' accompanied by guitarist, before he takes to the stage to loud applause and launches into one of his favourite topics -smoking. The stage props are a barstool, bottle of beer and cigarettes.

Calling heavily on his upbringing as the child of first generation Irish immigrants in New England, his experiences of the seventies ("There we were in the middle of a sexual revolution wearing clothes that guaranteed we wouldn't get laid!") and moving on to the man that shaped, Leary has a predominantly staccato, sneering style of delivery. He stops off on the journey and gets his teeth into familiar US subjects such as therapy, rehab, rock music, and the French.

He has pretty entrenched working class attitudes to the trappings of the middle and upper classes, and any attendant navel-gazing they may indulge in. Therapy gets short shrift, but we do get treated to his therapist fantasy: 'That's my new book. 'Shut the F*** Up, by Dr. Denis Leary'. Patients come in. 'Doctor I-' Shut the F*** up! NEXT!! 'Doctor, I've got this-' SHUT THE F*** UP!! NEXT! 'He made me feel so much better. He just told me to shut the f*** up. Nobody ever told me that before!'

His outrage at the world makes for pretty funny stuff, but in this set the shadow of Hicks falls quite heavily. I think he's at his funniest when describing his childhood and relationships with his brother and father and examining machismo in a traditional working class family. His story of being hit by a neighbour's kid with a bow and arrow is hysterical.

Some of the references are of their time, but it would be a mistake to dismiss him as just another eighties style foul mouthed ranter, as there is a lot of clever construction and identifiable motifs in his work that keep you engaged. His delivery style was pretty unique, and has spawned a host of imitators as well as critics, but fundamentally, this is the work of a comic, I think his material is very funny, and you can't ask for much more than that.

Summary:
As for the Hicks/Leary debate, I prefer Hicks, and think that he probably did influence early Leary strongly, but they can both stand on their own merits. This DVD is well worth a look, although I'm sure you can find clips of his material on sites like You Tube to get a sample before you buy.

You can pick up the DVD for around £9 online, but for an extra pound or two, you can buy 'The complete Denis Leary' - a two DVD set of No Cure for Cancer and Lock and Load, plus extra features and I'd recommend that.

Quotes:
I've added a few quotes to give a flavour, but to be honest they suffer without the delivery:

Smoking: - 'Smoking takes ten years off your life. Well it's the ten worst years, isn't it folks? It's the ones at the end! It's the wheelchair, kidney dialysis, adult diaper f***ng years. You can have those years! We don't want 'em, alright?'

Drugs - 'Yeah, I'd like to do some cocaine. I'd like to do a drug that makes my penis small, makes my nose bleed, makes my heart explode, and sucks all my money out of the bank. Is that possible please?'

Music: - 'Stevie Ray Vaughan is dead and we can't get Jon Bon Jovi on a helicopter.'

Celebrity Rehab - 'I'm gonna get famous. Then when my career starts to flag, I'm gonna go into a three month f***ng bender, OK? Coke, and f***ng pot, and smack, and f***ng booze, and drive over people, and beat up my kids, go into therapy, go into rehab, come outta rehab, be on the cover of People magazine, and go Sorry! I f***ed up!'

 

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