Rowan Atkinson Live! [VHS]

Absolutely brilliant performance by Atkinson; this is a fantastic DVD. As noted by other reviewers, it has a plethora of skits, including both US and UK sets. I was ecstatic to finally get the Devil sketch on DVD, having not seen it in years. (Had the VHS but lost it to Katrina.)Now, a big knock against A&E, enough to give the release itself zero stars (I wish Amazon allowed for multiple ratings, so we could rate the performance separate from its media presentation). A&E apparently hates the hearing impaired. For years they have released countless shows on disc without any form of closed captioning or subtitles. What's mind boggling about that is, in many cases, the captioning is available to them, but they opt not to use it, instead "cleaning" the footage of such encoding. (In fact, A&E television programs are almost always captioned.) I can't fathom why, but it does result in lost sales.I'm not deaf, but I do have a hearing problem. I overcome it with hearing aids and a good speaker system on my video, but I rarely buy A&E releases; I either rent them or wait for their appearance on TV. But I've bypassed buying scores of A&E releases -- everything from the entire release sets of Poirot to Jeeves & Wooster to Space: 1999 -- for lack of any form of captioning and/or subtitles.FWIW, I have contacted A&E about it; the polite response was that the company did not feel their normal viewership/customer base needed captioning or subtitles to justify the additional cost.Sorry for the rant. 5 stars to Mr. Atkinson and a superb performance; 0 to A&E for another shaft to the hearing impaired.

I saw this act a long time ago on a cable TV channel. Then, in 1998, I bought the VHS, which unfortunately didn't bring two of the sketches now included on this DVD, maybe because it was a british version of the show. The text has some alterations too; e.g. "latest release from Kylie Minogue" instead of "Puccini's greatest hits", mentioned in the "The Good Loser" sketch. Of course, there is an improvement in terms of image and sound quality, along with the possibility of going directly to the funnier chapters you might want to show your friends. But, I have to agree with some of the reviewers that this DVD should come with a fair warning, since explicit language and gestures can be found with no shame at all! I love Rowan Atkinson and admires everything he does (well, maybe some of his movie roles could be left out of my list). The man is a comedy genious, either talking or not.

I saw this show for the first on a Saturday night right after Saturday Night Live. The SNL had Pearl Jam as the musical guests and ran a week or two after Kurt Cobain had killed himself. I was so sad over that loss and then this came on. I laughed so hard. I quickly sought it out on video and saw for the first time the sketch about the rollcall at a high school. I couldn't believe that this man was using such vulgar and hilarious language. I have watched the show at least ten times and my affection for it has never diminished. Stand outs: No One Called Jones, With Friends Like These, and Pink Tights And Plenty of Props. I give copies of this show to people to see their reactions. If they don't think this is funny, then I find it hard to believe they would find anything humourous.

Having the good sense to catch Rowan on tv when Blackadder was running, i have been a fan ever since. When Mr. Bean was making the rounds on Public tv, i was rather prepared to expect Rowan to win me over again.He did that in abundance, as again, he created another original idea and took it overboard. He won me over again.This intimate and pleasing dvd shows Rowan from 1991, and his approach has not changed. A generous amount of material is displayed with such laid back restraint, i was overcome with laughter by the second skit.I am glad that America appreciates Rowan's talent. He is superb with whatever is handed to him. Am hoping that more like this is released for us fans.

I like Rowan Atkinson very much. Like most people who know his work I first saw him as Mr. Bean, the slightly dim befuddled idiot clown who has a bit of a childish mean streak. Then I saw him in the twp Johnny English films which are wonderful send ups of James Bond as a fool and Mr. Beans Vacation which has one of the funniest begging on the street sequences I've ever seen.This particular collection has him in the nineteen nineties in live performance in Boston. He looks quite young and it's interesting to see some of the genesis of his later work already being explored. The man has a fertile imagination and is a brilliant performer.

I have owned the VHS copy of this performance forever and I am so happy to see it out on DVD at last! Almost every sketch of this performance is pure gold, and two out of the three sketches not shown in the US were great! I didn't even know these existed until I downloaded a copy of this just a few weeks before its release. You will not be disappointed if you pick this up. The language is very mild, though some of the best lines involve the use of curse words. Even if you don't love every sketch, like me, the sketches that are great make this a 5 star collection. Thank you Rowan Atkinson for your comic brilliance.

Rowan Atkinson is an acquired taste, but if you get his humor you will enjoy this stand up performance.

I have been trying to get this for years it was broadcast under another guise so i was looking for it under that nameiam so happy to have found it and i promise you it is one of the funniest things you will ever witness .Rowen Atkinson at his very best with more than a little help from the lovely Angus DeytonThankyou very much S Markey Mrs

Hilarious. Rowan Atkinson has emerged as first rate comedian, actor, mime with a thoroughly English caustic wit. He doesclergymen even better than best, of course, but his portrayal of an urbane (and slightly fed up) Devil welcoming humans to hell,asking them kindly and patiently to go join their groups - is worth it alone. The diplomatic Indian restaurant waiter (pretending not tonotice the paralytic drunkeness of the football group of friends) comes a close second. Some of us will probably die laughing, butwhat the hell, we're all going to anyway...

Consistently funny with a variety of set-ups and some fabulous mime moments. Great straight-man antics from Angus Deayton.

Good viewing

Rowan Atkinson at his best - back to the basics of comedy, pure genius and extremely funny! Highly recommended.