I won’t say Mitch Fatel’s stand up routine in Mitch Fatel is Magical is obscene, but it’s definitely not one you’d want to let the kids in your family listen to. The man isn’t a very visual or animated comic, he really just stands up on stage and speaks in a very childish, altered voice. The few moments his arms do move away from his body are when he’s either pointing at someone in the audience as part of a joke (it happens twice, maybe three times) or when he’s imitating God as he models nipples for the human body. That’s actually a pretty common theme: anatomy. That really is the theme. Human anatomy and how Fatel can tie it in to sex. He’s really good at tying it in to sex.
Before we fully explore Fatel’s incredibly sexually active mind, let’s talk about his general presentation. Jerry Seinfeld is all about the hand face up moving back and forth about stomach high. He’ll ask questions with his routine and simultaneously with his hands – his hands are always asking “what’s up with that?” Now Denis Leary perpetually paces back and forth talking like a coke addict with his left arm waving stiffly at his side and both a cigarette and microphone poised no further than six inches away from his mouth in the right hand. Robin Williams? He’s all over the place and on the verge of hairy combustion. But Mitch Fatel? He stands nervously with arms either crossed or shifting nervously from one pocket to the other.
Why does it matter?
Because his stage persona takes the anxious and shy speech pattern of Mitch Hedberg (minus the oversized glasses and long hair) and blends them with a line of second-string sex jokes from Bob Saget’s B-reel. He’s not as funny as Hedberg and nowhere near as charming as Bob Saget – and for his routine, he needs to be either one or the other. Instead he’s just a timid man on the stage talking about how much he likes sex, how good he is at sex, and the things he wishes women would do to heighten his sexual experiences.
Among the topics of the day are:
Inverted nipples
Inverted vaginas
Condom desensitization
Orgasms
Shaven private parts vs. Woolly
Having sex with a girl who has her period
These subjects are all fair game for stand-up – hell, they’ve been done before by other superb comedians. Fatel however never has anything funny to point out that doesn’t feel like a line from the sleazy guy at the bar trying to convince you of what a player he is. He even emphasizes, humorously or not, how funny he must be for making some of his more mediocre observations. There are a few moments where he’ll catch you off-guard but the entire act seems like it tries so hard to shock you with its mature subjects that he never bothered to write in the punchlines. Vagina. Giggle giggle. That about sums up the style of the routine. It’s by no means one of the better or even middle of the road performances Comedy Central has put out on DVD in the last year. He keeps a steady flow, but the jokes in the stream are all minnows. Maybe his second outing will be better, but for now nothing about his act is a keeper.
DVD Bonus Features
Reading the back of the DVD makes it seem like there’s more on the disc than there is – though few of the extras on the disc last longer than a minute. Interviews with fans are as empty for the at-home audience as they are for anyone but Mitch. There are a few clips from a Mitch Fatel photo shoot (for him in his magician’s outfit) and a smattering of deleted scenes. The one fun thing to be found in the disc’s second-half is a brief animated sketch of Mitch. It’s funny, but never laugh out loud.
"Mitch Fatel is Magical" is on sale September 22, 2009 and is rated NR. Comedy. Written and directed by Mitch Fatel. Starring Mitch Fatel.
