Why So Blu?

Pablo Francisco: They Put It Out There (Stand-Up Special Review)

Finding the words to properly review a stand-up special can be tricky.  It can be especially difficult when dealing with a comedian that you may not be entirely familiar with.  Fortunately, I do enjoy Pablo Francisco in general, though I have never spent time watching a special of his as long as this one entitled You Put It Out There.  Filmed in Santa Ana, CA, this is a lengthy stand-up special, which has Francisco going all out with his impressions and joking about various issues.  It is both funny and exhausting.  But, as is always the case, his “movie voiceover king” impression never gets old.

Pablo Francisco:  I’ll never do ecstasy again…in Miami.

As mentioned, this stand-up special was recorded at the Webb Theater in Santa Ana, CA, and is nearly an hour and a half of Pablo Francisco doing stand-up work.  There are no breaks, he just keeps going and has all the sweat to prove it.  His manic energy takes him all over the place, with plenty of impressions to follow.  There is a lot of material covering clubs and DJs, as well as Smart Cars, then the requisite racial distinctions of various groups.  His gift for celeb impressions also plays a part as well.  Plenty of other material as well, topped off by a strangely epic finale of sorts that calls back to one of his most well known bits.

As far as my enjoyment was concerned, I did have fun watching it, but man was this special long.  It is not a matter of thinking it dragged at all, but it did come down to me simply being tired to maintain my enthusiasm after a while.  I am impressed with the fact that Francisco was able to do such a lengthy amount of stage time, especially since his style of comedy has a level of energy to it that should make him exhausted (I have already mentioned his sweat).  However, it seems like some editing could have made this a tighter experience to enjoy.  Now this also comes down to the subjective nature of comedy, as usual, which means that others could really be into this special for the duration, regardless of how long it is.

One thing I really noticed was the way in which this special was filmed.  This sort of thing varies from special to special for different stand-ups, but the way coverage was portrayed seemed a bit off.  By this I refer to the lack of audience reactions.  This is not always something I see, but for some reason, I feel like the pacing of this special could have worked for me better if it was broken up a bit by audience coverage and not just crosscutting back and forth to different angles on Francisco.  It is sort of a strange note, but the first time I really thought about it.

The other big thing I noticed was how, despite bouncing around between different subjects, there were areas that Francisco landed on that stuck around for a while, before moving on.  These were portions that, while funny, could easily be shortened up to, once again, move along the pace of the special (or at least handled better in the editing).  The first third, in particular, seems very focused on the DJ-related material, which is fine, but comes to a point of me thinking he really needs to move on.

Now, with these points made, the special is very funny overall.  There is a particular way that Pablo Francisco handles his uses of impressions that continue to make me laugh, which I will always appreciate.  There are maybe not as many celeb impressions as some fans may be used to, but he brings the funny in a lot of ways in this regard anyway.

Overall, this is a stand-up special that I could see being a fun watch in passing, whenever it randomly airs on Comedy Central.  Pablo Francisco has a lot of fun with his act, is fairly appealing in some way to many different audiences, I would imagine, and does a lot of impressions in a non-irritating kind of way.  I have certainly emphasized the length a lot, but that doesn’t take away from how funny this whole thing really was.

Pablo Francisco:  Red Bull and vodka, now I can drive drunk a little longer.