Robin Williams: Weapons of Self-Destruction

The funniest man alive taped a concert in Washington during his last comedy tour and broadcast it last year on HBO. For 89 minutes, Williams skewers Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney, drugs, the Summer Olympics, porn, healthcare and even his recent open-heart surgery. Some highlights (which are funnier on screen than paper): the name "Hurricane Terrence" doesn't inspire fear in people, and sounds like a slightly gay hurricane; crazy Itzhak, the Hassidic organ dealer of New Jersey ("Come on down!"); "The English Royal Family ― all that money and no dental plan"; turning Guatanamo Bay into the Muslim Mountain amusement park. He also performs a medley of GPS voices: bitchy English, angry Scot, old Jewish man and Bob Dylan; and the German talk show question: "Mr. Williams, why do you think there's not so much comedy in Germany?" Answer: "Did you ever think you killed all the funny people?" At 58, Williams is still funny and this concert is a pleasure to kick back and watch. However, his rapid-fire delivery is slower than before and his impressions of celebs like Jimmy Stewart less sharp. Just compare his current routine with old ones found in the DVD's bonus features, starting with his Mork'n'Mindy days of 1978, when Williams was white-hot on stage, spewing a barbed stream of one-liners like a greased AK-47. The other DVD bonus is a montage of highlights from other cities on the tour where Williams tailors his jokes to his audience. In Albany, the mayor is as suntanned as George Hamilton. In Montreal, even the spectators at crumbling Olympic Stadium wear helmets. Weapons of Self-Destruction doesn't rank among Williams' best, but this show is better than the top work of most comics.