Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush DVD Review

By Ned Jordan

Comedy Central has made a lot of money off of George W. Bush. A president with an incredibly low approval rating and a penchant for putting his foot in his mouth has provided fuel for many of Comedy Central's comedians and shows and provided them with an audience all too eager to laugh at W. Now that W is on his way out the door, it looks like Comedy Central is worried that it is losing a cash cow and has begun to desperately milk that thing before it keels over dead.

Comedy Central Salutes George W. Bush is a hodgepodge collection of episodes of various Comedy Central series that lampooned Bush or his presidency in some way. Unfortunately, not only does this collection feel like it was hastily compiled, most of the material is not all that funny. You get an episode of Lil' Bush, probably one of the most poorly written and decidedly unfunny animated series I have ever seen on - how hard can be it be to make a humorous cartoon based on Bush? You also get an episode of That's My Bush, a short-lived sitcom based in Bush's Whitehouse. The problem with shows that try to lampoon cheesy and generic sitcoms is that they have trouble avoiding becoming a cheesy and generic sitcom themselves, a fate that this show fails to avoid. There are also snippets from Comedy Central's New Year's specials from 2006 and 2007, but these are so poorly edited that some comedians are almost cutoff in mid-word as soon as their topics switch away from Bush. The only worthy inclusions on this disc are Root of all Evil (which technically makes fun of Cheney and Paris Hilton rather than Bush) and an episode of South Park. The South Park episode lampoons 9/11 conspiracy theories rather than Bush, and in fact his appearance here is rather mild by South Park standards (Oprah and Hilary Clinton fared far worse in recent seasons). If you're interested in the South Park episode then buy a South Park DVD instead. You'll get a lot better value for your money.

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