Why So Blu?

Tosh.0: Hoodies (Blu-ray Review)

Have you ever seen E’s Talk Soup with Joel McHale?  Pretty hilarious, huh?  Well if you have, then the format of Tosh.O is going to look pretty darn familiar to you, at least to me it does.  I’m not really crazy about the title Hoodies, but nonetheless it’s a collection of episodes from Season One of the Comedy Central show that my buddy Gregg Senko (staff writer here) has been encouraging me to watch for quite some time now.  Are you happy with me now, Gregg?  Hoodies refers to the article of clothing comedian Daniel Tosh adorns each episode, but I’d be fine with a title of just “Season One.”  What say you?

Film

In a nutshell, Daniel Tosh searches and scours the Internet for the best and worst it has to offer and he unmercifully does it all for our viewing entertainment.  What a nice guy!  I have heard people refer to it as the America’s Funniest Home Videos of the World Wide Web, but I still believe not only in visuals, but also content-wise that it more resembles the format of Talk Soup.  Tosh usually sets up the rude and crude videos, much like McHale does with his virtual clips, and sarcastically comments on them during and after the fact whether he has something spontaneously comedic to say or is rendered completely speechless.  I think the spontaneity of comments is what I like best about the television show.  You never know what’s going to come out of the young man’s mouth and for that I love him.

The videos…err…range from the outright insane to the most gut busting moments you have ever seen.  Of course, there are some duds here and there, but it really makes you wonder about what is happening to our society.  Are people really this stupid or are they just looking and willing to do anything to be the next viral video sensation?  I’m hoping it’s the latter, but after watching Tosh.O it really makes you skeptical about the sanity and safety of our future generations.  There are way too many to list, but some of my favorite Tosh.O Season One moments were trying to swallow cinnamon (I really want to try this now), chugging a gallon of milk and the explosive aftermath associated with it and the commentary during the biggest set of “cankles” you have ever seen crushing bread.  I know.  WTF?  LOL.  What have my writing skills been reduced to?

Each episode of Tosh.O pretty much follows a routine format that includes the usual barrage of oddball videos and commentary, a celebrity skit (Don Riggles for example), Tosh’s own antics and a segment called “Web Redemption.”  That’s pretty much where an online video gone wrong like in the case of the Afro Ninja who does a disastrous backflip and lands on his face and reluctantly tries to get up like nothing ever happened while seemingly moving around in a stunned trance.  That video obviously went viral.  Heck, I remember seeing that one years ago.  However, our hero, Daniel Tosh, offers these embarrassed folks a chance to totally redeem themselves.  In the case of Afro Ninja, for example, Tosh allows him to successfully do a backflip in his presence, therefore redeeming and eradicating the previous viral video incident gone wrong.  You think you have seen it all?  Wrong!  I promise you that you haven’t.  Wait until you watch and hear Miss South Carolina educate you on maps.  She gave the most confusing answer I have ever heard in my life and it makes me chuckle just thinking about it now.  And yeah…she’s blond!

Video

For the videophiles out there, Paramount Pictures brings Tosh.O: Hoodies to the Blu-ray format with a 1080i AVC MPEG-4 video transfer framed in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1.  This is a hard one to judge given the exclusive Web content of the show ranging from pixelated webcam videos to various shaky, standard definition clips as well.  Now on the other hand, the onstage shots where Tosh talks against the green screen look great as well as the HD captured “Web Redemption” segments where he travels onsite to the particular person in question that is seeking redemption.  For what it’s worth, skin tones, black levels and everything else all look fine.  What can you really say?  It’s not Crank, it’s more so a reality show with stock footage content of all varying levels of quality.  With a “reality” show like this, results may vary, but nevertheless I was very happy with what I saw.

Audio

Paramount includes both a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track as well as a Dolby Digital 2.0 track.  Like the video, your results will vary from segment to segment.  It’s not that it sounds bad, that’s not the case at all.  It’s just “what is.”  It’s a talk show with moments of music and dialog, but never much more.  To me, the most important thing here is can I hear the dialog loud and clear and if we are addressing that question solely, then we have a winner here.  English subtitles are also included.

Extras

There’s really not much here in the way of extras.  I tend to judge really hard in this category so let’s see what we have to work with here.  The Blu-ray disc contains the following 11 short HD clips: Digital Exclusives, Extended Segments and Outtakes.  Here’s my thought.  Wouldn’t it be so cool if the Blu-ray gave you the option/ability to bookmark your favorite gags and segments here?  That way you could kind of create your own highlight reel, thus providing reliable replay value to this Season One collection.

Final

So there you have it.  This was an easy one to tackle.  Tosh.O: Hoodies clocks in at 220 minutes and if you don’t laugh at all, then something is medically wrong with you.  Seriously.  LOL.  This is a hard one to make a recommendation on.  Obviously because of the nature and format of the show one can expect the A/V specs to not be stellar, but it’s the replay value that worries me here.  For the fans of the show, this is a no-brainer to pick up, especially with the cheap price this one is currently selling at.  And it’s that cheap price that ultimately pushes me to encourage you all to give it a chance.  What’s the worst that can happen?  If you don’t like it, sell it.  At least you are not losing much at around a $12 price tag.  That’s like consuming 2-3 beers at a bar in which you will never see that money again.  Go ahead.  Live a little.  Pick up Tosh.O: Hoodies today and get your laugh on.  I dare you!