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Human Giant: Season One
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (30th November -0001). |
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The Show
 Abbot and Costello's 'Who's on First?' sketch is a classic. So popular, in fact that 'The Simpsons' spoofed it in one episode. Listening to the pair's repartee is great, with the back and forth never losing a beat. Principal Skinner's version is funny because it's ridiculous. If it were to be taken seriously, it would be awful. His timing is awful and his delivery horrible. That is the biggest problem with 'Human Giant', a sketch-comedy show with Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer, which tries to pack in as much as possible in its oddly slim running time as possible, making the jokes fly by without any sense of timing. The problem with some of the comedy is that it doesn't seem to know when to stop. For example, the Jealous Boyfriend skit from the second episode has a great gag, but then it keeps going and going. Now, in that particular skit, the last job pays off, but in To Catch a Predator and Ding Dong Boyz, you see the joke coming, making things a bit tiresome and predictable. Not everything is tired and repetitive, though. Every episode has laughs and the kind of comedy is pretty off-the-wall. The gang likes to take a situation popular in films and books and twist and skew them to their liking. The perfect example of the kind of comedy is in episode 7, in a spoof of 'The Exorcist'. A small boy is possessed by the devil. A priest is there to exorcise the boy, and is successful. The devil then pops out of the boy and the sketch then becomes a character drama about the devil missing the child. Every episode has crazy situations and weird humour of the sort. They make fun of Criss Angel and various movies, and various other things, but they also add in their own original sketches, like child agents Shutterbugs and Spacelords. The level of creativity and originality is pretty high, but if they took the time to relish some of the jokes, emphasizing the right moments, the show would have more laughs. Here is a breakdown of the season. disc 1: Episode 1: Mind Explosion (17:04) Shutterbugs, Camping Weekend, Attack Dogs pt. 1, Illusionators: Card Trick, Paul's Time Machine 1, Attack Dogs pt. 2, Mother and Son Moving Company, Illusionators: Funeral Trick Episode 2: Let's Go! (20:55) Face-Melting Ark, Dick on My Face, Catching a Predator, Self-Defense, Sea Land Psycho, Old Fashioned Fun, Sensitivity Training, Product Recalls – Washer, Let's Go! Episode 3: Lil 9-11 (20:25) Zoombas, Rob's Vagina, Paul Scheer is a Douchebag Pizzeria pt. 1, Shutterbugs: Lil' 9/11, Paul Scheer is a Douchebag Pizzeria pt. 2, Blood Oath, Commercial Jingles pt. 1, Astronaut, Commercial Jingles pt. 2 Episode 4: Mosh Pit (20:47) Cute Animal Show, Paul's Time Machine 2, Job Interview, Rob's Mom, Corn Maze, Illusionators: Clone Trick, Mobile World, Product Recalls – Cellphone, Mosh Pit Episode 5: Ice Cream Party (20:48) Missing Student pt. 1, Suit of Arbor, Emergency Party Chat Line, Clell****** pt. 1, The Deer, Clell ****** pt. 2, Missing Student pt. 2, Illusionators Street Crossing pt. 1, Swindle Tips: Coffee, Illusionators Street Crossing pt. 2 Episode 6: Kneel Before Zerg (18:39) Hostage Countdown, Mannequin, Shutterbugs: Bobb'e J, Wheelchair Access, Spacelords: Episode 1, Product Recalls – Hemophiliac Vacuum, Cliff Tarpey, Product Recalls – Aziz, Lunartics Episode 7: Hello Susan (19:58) Streetballers, Genie, Ding Dong Boyz – Nick Force, Swindle Tips: Gym, Ding Dong Boyz – Jeff Garrison, Bruce Willis Look-a-like, Ding Dong Boyz – Chris Boone, Exorcism Episode 8: Ta Da (22:01) Driver's Ed, Rollerblading, Illusionators Missile Stunt pt. 1, Indian Burial Ground, Illusionators Missile Stunt pt. 2, Morning Zoo, Spacelords: Episode 2
Video
1.78:1 non-anamorphic widescreen (though the DVD box says 1.33:1). The show was shot on low-resolution DV and so it looks pretty bad at times. The colours can get blown-out at times, lacking definition and sharpness. Now, this is a problem of the source and not of the transfer. The colours are good enough and contrast is passable. There are some small compression problems, as well, stemming from the original source. It's an okay picture, but doesn’t really look the best it could.
Audio
The only track is a functional English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track. Given the type of show this is, there's nothing special about the audio, but it does carry the appropriate sounds to your ears. The dialogue is always clear and if it's a bit muffled, it's because of the source. The various effects and music bits are mixed in will, with nice volume levels. There are no subtitles.
Extras
This set is packed with extras. First is a whole bunch of audio commentaries. Most of the episodes have two commentary tracks! Fans of the show rejoice. Every track features actors Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, director Jason Woliner and executive producer Tom Gianas. In addition to these five guys, every track has guests. I won't go into detail of every track, because that would be pointless. They pretty much goof off for the entire commentary track, but they do add little tidbits of how certain scenes came to be. They also have little bits in the track, like in episode six, with their fake agent and his wife. It's pretty funny and in the same style of the show's humour. Here's the breakdown of the guests on each track. Episode 1: Track 1: Jon Glaser and Rob Riggle Track 2: Bill Hader and Kristen Schaal Episode 2: Track 1: Jon Glaser, Jack McBrayer and Patton Oswalt Track 2: Bill Hader and Kristen Schaal Episode 3: Track: Bill Hader, Nick Kroll and Kristen Schaal Episode 4: Track 1: Jon Glaser and Jack McBrayer Track 2: Bill Hader and Kristen Schaal Episode 5: Track 1: Jon Glaser, Bob Odenkirk and Kristen Schaal Track 2: Bill Hader and Kristen Schaal Episode 6: Track: Jon Glaser, Bill Hader and Kristen Schaal Episode 7: Track: Jon Glaser, Bill Hader and Kristen Schaal Episode 8: Track 1: Bill Hader and Kristen Schaal Track 2: Bill Hader, Mary-Lynn Rajskub and Kristen Schaal After that, disc two contains the rest of the extras. First is Highlights from the Human Giant: 24 Hour Marathon (75:40). For reasons I don't quite understand, the guys from 'Human Giant' had a 24-hour run on MTV and these are few highlights. This is a very nice 75 minutes and shows a lot of funny moments. Aziz Ansari seems to be having a lot of fun. He's always cracking up at whatever guest is on the show at a particular time. The goofing off and jokes throughout the 24 hours seem to have been worth it. If you're a fan of the show, you have to watch this, if you haven't already. A whole slew of Deleted and Alternate Scenes (52:56 total) are next on the extras list. All 8 episodes have deleted scenes, not adding all that much to the episodes. There are a few jokes that could have been included, but the running time prevented them to being in the show. A few scenes are a bit rough, like 'Paul's Time Machine: Alternate Version' and 'Illusionators Deleted Scene: Original Ending', but they were reworked and ended up being better in the episodes. The job interview sketch from episode 4 also had some very nice jokes, but was trimmed to make it better, as well. Here are the episodes, with the deleted scenes: Episode 1 (5:42) Terrifying Pop-Up: Alternate Ending (0:37) Shutterbugs: "Jareida Ortiz" (1:17) Paul’s Time Machine: Alternate Version (1:02) Illusionators: Funeral Outtakes (0:44) Illusionators: "Grandpa" (2:00) Episode 2 (3:43) Catching a Predator: Outtakes (1:42) Sea Land Psycho: "Movie Magic" (1:01) Sensitivity Training: Deleted Scene (0:48) Episode 3 (12:28) Rob's Vagina: Nick Swardson Outtakes (1:25) Shutterbugs Lil' 911 Extended Scene: "Pep Talk" (0:42) Shutterbugs Lil' 911 Extended Scene: "Andy Blitz" (1:22) Blood Oath: "The Gameshop Guys' (1:35) Astronaut: Extended Cut (5:12) Commercial Jingles (2:10) Episode 4 Job Interview: Extended Cut (4:29) Episode 5 (10:37) Mission Person: Outtakes (2:34) "Clell": Outtakes (3:51) Illusionators Deleted Scene: "Nathaniel" (0:55) Illusionators Deleted Scene: "Cell Phone Trick" (0:58) Illusionators Deleted Scene: "Murdoc's Stunt Memories" (0:37) Illusionators Deleted Scene: "Original Ending" (1:38) Episode 6 (2:07) Shutterbugs Bobb'e J Outtakes (1:25) Spacelords Deleted Scene: "Tip Jar" (0:42) Episode 7 (7:47) Lookalike: Outtakes/Deleted Scene (4:27) Exorcism: Extended Scene (3:20) Episode 8 (6:03) Morning Zoo: Alternate Version (3:53) Spacelords: Extended "Date" Sequence (2:10) That's not it, because there's a lot more to watch. A couple of Unaired Sketches can be seen. 'Shutterbugs: The Sugarplums' (4:17) and 'Shutterbugs: The Break-In' (7:46) are here. They just show more of the evolution of the Shutterbugs, which may seem a bit abrupt in the season as is. Some Early Footage is also here. 'Crash Test' was a weekly comedy show started by Aziz Ansari and Rob Huebel on the USC campus. There are two skits here that served as inspiration for a couple of the characters in 'Human Giant'. There is here 'Crash Test Presents: Shutterbugs' (5:09) and 'Crash Test Presents: Mindfuckers' (3:38), which served as the basis for the Illusionators. Some Season 2 Previews are also here, with three sketches, and feature some pretty nice gags. There's 'Crimetime' (3:53) 'Car Accident' (5:43) and 'Illusionators Camera Trick' (2:46). These are pretty good, and are a bit better than a lot of what's in season one. Some silly Crew Dedications (1:49) are here. This makes fun of MTV interrupting end credits with silly website ads. Finishing everything off is a Season 1 Trailer (2:06). Just a trailer. Nothing more. It's got clips from the show, and advertises the show nicely.
Overall
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