Dave Hughes-Live (2006)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Animation Featurette-Backstage With Dave Featurette-Hughsey's Tree Featurette-The Baton Relay
Rating
Year Of Production	2006
Running Time	78:10 (Case: 80)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Liberation Music	Starring	Dave Hughes
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	?	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Dave Hughes is one of the better known comedians working in Australia today mostly due to his work on television (The Glasshouse etc) and on radio (Nova FM in Melbourne). He is very Australian in style; laid back, self-deprecating, a bit rough around the edges, natural, down-to-earth and very funny. To my knowledge this is his first DVD release, which includes as the main feature a 78 minute live gig from the Adelaide Fringe Festival early this year. According to the extras it was actually recorded over two nights and edited together. The actual venue is the Thebarton Theatre which seats around 1800 people. It was certainly full for this show.

    The show is not exactly visually stunning, consisting of Dave wandering around the stage, however, this is made up for by the amusing material consisting of stories, jokes and regular audience baiting. His comedy covers all sorts of topics associated with Australian life such as water saving, the 2006 Commonwealth Games, trams, driving, personal trainers, McDonalds, teachers, Shane Warne, cigarettes, John Howard, Iraq, holidays, petrol prices, the dole, condoms, living with girls and relationships generally. The audience are obviously having a good time except perhaps those in the front row being picked on and there are certainly quite a few laughs to be had. This is a good comedy show although it does fall a little short of greatness, with some flubbed jokes and some in dubious taste (which would be fine if they were funny!).

    If you enjoy Dave Hughes' work, this DVD is certainly worth a rental and if you are a big fan give it a go - you won't regret it.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. Grain was regularly present in the background despite the relatively high bitrate.

    The colour was very good with no issues to report.

    The only noticeable artefacts were a green line across the screen at 11:08 which looked like it was a digital signal issue and some very minor aliasing on his shirt from time to time.

    There are no subtitles.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync. This is obviously the only thing which matters in a stand up comedy show, that you can hear and understand the comedian.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    A good selection of extras is included.

Menu

    The menu was still and silent, however menu selections were pointed at by a little Dave Hughes with movable arms.

Hughsey's Tree (39:29)

    This is a featurette about Hughsey returning to his home town of Warrnambool in Victoria for a gig earlier this year. It follows his travels from St Kilda, down the highway to Warrnambool in his Monaro, chugg-a-lugging Red Bull, with his girlfriend and support act. For the first sixteen minutes this seems like it's going to be a pretty ordinary extra as you meet his family and see the abattoir where he used to work. Luckily, after the sixteen minute mark is 20 or so minutes of his live performance in Warrnambool which is probably a better show that the main one, despite some repeated jokes. Very funny show.

Backstage with Dave (19:50)

    This is a backstage featurette showing his preparation for and the aftermath of his Adelaide gig including trading insults with Lano & Woodley. OK but nothing to write home about.

Baton Relay (14:10)

    A featurette following the day Dave Hughes was involved in the Commonwealth Baton Relay through the main street of Warrnambool. Not bad.

    This disc is coded for all regions but has only been released locally.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    3 extras - one very good one and two fillers.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall