Review of Reggie Watts: Why Shit So Crazy? (2010) by Gina W — 24 May 2010

This Comedy Central special features comedian Reggie Watts in "Why Sh*t so crazy?" in a DVD/CD combo where the DVD has the named special plus "Real Time with Reggie" and the CD has the entire comedy special in audio so you can take it with you in your car or on your iPod. His routine is edited together from several different performances. The whole thing is like a giant remix of him making a few statements, asking questions, and breaking out into song or a DJ beat-boxing routine which he has several tracks of. He also switches back and forth between speaking in a hip-hop slang ("Know what I'm sayin'?") and with a bit of a cultured English accent and then full-out French which is confusing, but interesting because he appears to be choosing to use it for different audiences which makes me wonder if he is commenting on how people will perceive performers by their style of speech.

His set is really a mix of songs with a bit of talking inbetween much like Stephan Lynch, the popular comedy songwriter, but unlike Lynch, Watts is not as easily accessible to most people. Watching this, you'll probably either think he is a genius or you'll feel like you do not get this....AT ALL....like me. The people in the audience must have been really drunk to find some of this contrived stuff funny because it just wasn't that entertaining. Mixing music and comedy is a noble idea but this hip-hop DJ mixing format doesn't feel like it works and it is frustratingly annoying to listen to after a while.

There is a cute skit before the show playing a game with a friend that has a few funny moments in it, but all that falls away once he gets onstage and becomes distanced from the audience once more. In "Real Time With Reggie", a feature on the DVD, he claims that he encourages audience participation and that he makes up most of his songs on the spot. It is really hard to verify that because he also remixed the finished video with multiple performances and camera angles in a blender and calls it art. It is just confusing and doesn't make sense!