Kathleen Madigan – Gone Madigan (Blu-ray Review)
For those of you that don’t know, Jay Leno thinks that Kathleen Madigan is one of America’s best female comedians. Madigan is also the winner of an American Comedy Award winner for Best Female Comic and she was also a Last Comic Standing contestant. Even if you don’t recognize her name, you’ve probably seen her on Comedy Central or something else. For this Blu-ray, Madigan’s act was filmed in New York City’s Gramercy Theater.
Film 
Filmed before a live audience, Kathleen Madigan covered topics are varied as scanners at the airport, her family, politics, religion, and Oprah. Comedy is subjective and you may not agree with me on what constitutes funny, but to give you an idea of who my favorite stand up comedians are for a reference check…they are Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Newhart, and on occasion, Chris Rock.
Madigan’s act was easygoing and provided me some chuckles but nothing that made me laugh uproariously. I especially liked her set about how Oprah feels the need to appear on every single issue of her magazine since I’ve complained about that myself.
Her observations about her family are also funny and she also talks about the USO tour she took to Afghanistan. I also enjoyed her retelling of her visit to the Mormon Church which of course will make some people laugh and other to complain. Another topic for her to poke fun at is the differences between living in California versus the Midwest where she grew up.
It’s always hard to review these stand up discs because I don’t want to give away the jokes but I still have to give you a feel for the content. Madigan’s delivery is excellent and she’s been doing this so long that she is extremely loose and comfortable in front of an audience. Her conversational folksy demeanor can suddenly turn sharp when she is making an astute observation and I enjoyed the performance.
Video 
This 1080p (1.78:1) transfer is decent but has it’s drawbacks. Like a lot of stand up concerts, this one has some issues with lighting, and there’s also a good amount of video noise throughout the movie. Detail is acceptable but overall the quality was inconsistent. Flesh-tones were natural and the limited color offered was unimpressive.
Audio
The show has a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that is probably about as good as you could expect for a stand up show. Dialogue is clear and the audience’s involvement is never allowed to drown out the comic. Unsurprisingly, this is basically a front channel experience.
Special Features 
Most stand up Blu-rays don’t contain much in the way of special features, but at least this one makes a token effort to include a couple of extras. For fans of Madigan, I’m sure they will be welcome.
- Interview – A very different looking Madigan offstage talks about her process of writing jokes and shows off her notebook where she jots down her ideas.
- Behind the Scenes – Madigan is joined by a bunch of friends including comic Lewis Black as they joke around.
Final Thoughts 
While this was not as funny as I had hoped it would be, I did chuckle at a few bits and I would be interested in seeing some of Madigan’s other work. The Blu-ray has decent audio/video quality and a couple of extras so if you are a fan of hers, then you should pick this up. If you’re not fan or new to her work, you might want to rent this first.
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Wow, Sean. You and I are exactly on par with the favorite comedians. You’re just missing Jerry Seinfeld on the list who I’m missing tonight because I didn’t know he was in town. Anyway, Madigan’s act seems like a worthy addition to the Netflix list. A hot dog for dessert…HAHA!
I loved his show but I’ve never seen his stand up act unless you count the few minutes he did it during the show. I’ve got his DVDs at home and they are on my list to watch!
Never heard of her before.