LDS-comedy DVDs aren't great laugh fests

Here are some new DVD releases, starting off with a pair aimed directly at the Mormon market.

"It's Latter-day Night!" (Halestorm, 2003, not rated, $16.95). Apocryphal or true, the story goes that Oscar-winning character actor Edmund Gwenn (best known as Santa in "Miracle on 34th Street") was on his deathbed when he famously said, "Dying is easy, comedy is hard." In LDS circles that might be paraphrased as "Clean is easy, funny is hard."

Stand-up comedy has always been split into two camps — those who do blue material and those who keep it clean. But it's more difficult these days to find the clean comics. Even Jay Leno, who was once the king of clean comedy on the stand-up circuit, has gone blue over the past decade while hosting the "Tonight Show."

So Halestorm — the guys who, for good or ill, brought us "Singles Ward" and "The R.M." — are to be congratulated for attempting to demonstrate with this-straight-to-DVD show that clean stand-up comedy is still around and still has a place in the mix. But whether it's funny is perhaps more subjective.

This 81-minute presentation of five male stand-up comics — who are all LDS, and who all take pride in keeping it clean — are actually funnier here when they stick to Mormon-specific themes. The opener, Shawn Rapier, begins his set with a hysterically funny lampoon of a stereotypical sacrament-meeting talk. But, sadly, nothing that follows — by anyone — manages to reach that height again. As Rapier begins a series of self-deprecating fat jokes, he begins to sound like any number of comics who appear on Comedy Central's stand-up programs but whose names quickly fall from memory.

Likewise, Adam Johnson and the more manic, pratfalling Michael B (who occasionally resorts to Gallagher/Carrot Top props), are talented guys with some mildly amusing shtick, but their material is inconsistent. Jeff Birk, a sort of Mormon Jim Carrey, is wild-eyed, mugging and all over the stage, but he lacks discipline and polish. And the less said about the Apple Brothers, the better. I also found the "commercial" spoofs (a killer handcart, a werewolf missionary) more amusing for their central ideas than their execution.

More successful is Dave Nibley, wearing a suit and tie (a la Seinfeld), and whose (mostly domestic) observations, while not atypical, hit the mark more than some of his colleagues' gags. (Local DJs Jimmy Chunga and Kelly Chapman host.)

On the other hand, since comedy is so subjective, you may watch this and disagree with my views. The live audience here seems to be enjoying everything.

Extras: Full frame, backstage clips, spoof commercials, Chunga's warm-up act, trailers, etc.