DysFunktional Family Review
by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)April 3rd, 2003
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There's a big difference between "racy" and "racist," and comedian Eddie Griffin can't seem to tell the difference. At least his onstage persona can't, anyway. Griffin's new concert film Dysfunktional Family outs the Undercover Brother star as a bigot and a homophobe, but even that's not as bad as some of the pitiful routines he perpetrates on stage. Bits like "What if Bill Cosby was a pimp?" and "What if Sammy Davis, Jr. worked at McDonald's?" are the lowest form of stand-up there is (David Cross even mocks it on his latest CD, which is infinitely funnier than Griffin's very best material).
What pisses me off about Griffin, other than those extremely fake-looking ultra-white choppers of his, is that I know he's much funnier than the material he uses in Family. I've heard him on Stern, where he doesn't cram the words "nigger" and "motherfucker" into every sentence at least once or twice (Griffin's rationale of the N-word: The more you say it, the less harmful it becomes - he's personally made it about as perilous to utter as "turkey club"), and he's a genuinely witty guy. I guess I can deal with pro-child abuse jokes, and the requisite White People Are Dumb and They Walk Funny, Too, numbers, but the line is drawn when Griffin complains about the awful treatment of American blacks, and then screams, "I see you, Osama!" when a guy with a turban and a beard walks by him on the street. That's as funny as a good old-fashioned lynching, ain't it?
Riffs on "them Osama niggers" aside, can you imagine a white comedian doing a routine about trying to bang a black retard without his mom finding out? Me, neither. The thing of it was, I didn't expect Family to be this much of a concert film. From the things I've read about it, as well as the way it's being promoted, I thought it was maybe half-standup and half-documentary about Griffin's crazy family - like the uncle who makes his own porno films and has photo albums full of beaver shots graphic enough to reveal the owner's astrological sign. But those real-life vignettes constitute about five percent of Family, and there's a complete lack of rhythm when incorporating the footage of Griffin's life offstage.
Originally called Eddie Griffin: Live in Concert, but changed presumably to trick crackers like me into thinking they'll be seeing a reality television-type film, Family shows Griffin returning home to Kansas City to rap with his fans about religion, oral sex, an invisible Michael Jackson-turned-Rambo, and - believe it or not - why cats are better than dogs (I think they edited out the part where he goofs on airplane food). Family was helmed by George Gallo, who directed Griffin in Double Take and was also responsible for the unbelievably awful Trapped in Paradise.
1:20 - R for strong sexual content, language and drug-related humor
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