2/27/09

Live concerts shot in a minimalist way: CK, Cosby, Pryor, and Springsteen

When asked about the minimalist style of "Chewed Up" (in the commentary track I talked about earlier), Louis CK mentions his favorite two examples of comedians caught on film: Bill Cosby "Himself" and Richard Pryor "Live in Concert" (different than Pryor's "Live on the Sunset Strip").

He points out that in both, they keep it bare bones. They never show the audience and there's a simple set. That's why he decided to go in the same direction. The idea: Glitz doesn't make people funnier. It just makes the whole thing seem like more of a production.

Cosby in "Himself":



Pryor in "Live in Concert":



CK in "Chewed Up":



CK also mentions this Bruce Springsteen video of "The River" as "one of his favorite things to watch" because it feels like "a live event captured," not an overproduced, glammed up thing.


Compare that with the cheesefest that is Bruce's "Dancing in the Dark" video and you get a pretty good idea what CK is talking about.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bill Burr also has commentary on this in his new cd. Ever since I watched it I can't stand watching sets where they keep flashing to the audience and fucking up the whole groove of the show.

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