Three time Cable ACE Award winner Richard Jeni returns to the "HBO COMEDY HOUR" with his dynamic energy, good looks and quick wits intact.

Careening angrily amid the middle-class angst he knows so well, Jeni pillories the foibles of cigar-smoking women, the absurdity of trying to be politically correct, the agony of flying coach and the existential mysteries of morning channel surfing on the road, ending with a sequence based on his churchgoing experiences as a child.

Taped in front of an appreciative audience at the Cerritos Center For The Performing Arts, Jeni has the power that could make him a comedic force in the tradition of Lenny Bruce.

The Chicago Tribune

When Richard Jeni decided to do a comedy album after years of success with cable specials, including the Cable ACE winning "Platypus Man", he knew he was venturing into a form just regaining consciousness.

Until Jeff Foxworthy, Adam Sandler and Bill Engvall struck gold with comedy CD's recently, record labels were largely considering the genre a dead art.

In "Greatest Bits", Jeni adds to the case for revival of the species. He has put together 22 of his favorite routines, focusing on the ones that A) he hasn't retired, and B) lend themselves to audio, without the aid of onstage pranks.

From the opening track, "Back in L.A."...No Smoking!" to the final cut, "Anus Presley", Jeni continually asks, "What is going on here?" as he finds himself astonished by day-to-day reality and expands on it.

The fuel that fire's Jeni's live show is his rapid fire succession of thoughts and nimble use of descriptive adjectives. Both traits are amply displayed here and translate well into audio only.

When discussing, for instance, the difference between perception and reality in "Death of a Shoe Salesman", the Brooklyn native offers: "No matter how much of a three-toed, knuckle-dragging troglodyte a guy is, he figure's he's only four or five sit-ups from being in a hot-tub with Elle MacPherson".

And when men go to the beach, we get: "You'll see some of the largest, brightest land mammals who have shrewdly chosen the Speedo bathing suit. The guy who should be wearing a Poncho".

Such wordsmithing paints mental cartoons that, for the most part, are rated PG, but veer into the blue on occasion.

Also, on he album, recorded live at the Ice House in Pasadena, is another fan favorite, "Fred Robster", which includes the lobster's view of being in a tank on display for diners: "Any word from the Governor?"

Unfortunately, Jeni didn't include the routine about his fast-talking car salesman - it 's one of his best live, though one that Jeni say's his fans like it better than he does. But that omission is a small price to pay considering the rest of the 48-minute compilation.

The Charlotte Observer Simply the Best

RICHARD JENI. A Comic? Forget it! THE comic. Stupendous, Super, Unbelievable, The Prototype, State of the Art and Multi-Dimensional. Should he permanently leave the stand-up world for bigger entertainment game, people should drag him, regardless of his screaming, back to a stage, strap him into that dolly the Hannibal Lechter rides and force him to be funny. If he won't go, call in the Marines, Coast Guard and even the President. There is nothing I could write to do justice to Richard Jeni. He is simply the best stand-up that I've ever seen and yes, I am aware that some guy named Carlin is also in town.

Arriving late to the 7:30 show, Jeni stood stage left and took some comedy stance. He started us out at 85 RPMs by imitating a comedian at the beginning of a "Def Comedy Jam" show. Although the lines were a nasty parody, it was delivered with such style that you simply fell out.

No one's perfect? Oh yeah? From the moment he hit the stage, Jeni hit a groove that never vanished. Comic pace comes and goes during a show, or so I thought. For Jeni, the groove simply keeps coming, and coming, and coming with a delivery so fast, yet so eloquent, it was nearly impossible to sample all of the goodies. Similar to the Poo-Poo tray at the Chinese restaurant, there was too much too soon.

T.V. was a favorite target. "All these infomercials...Some guy comes on, Hello, I'd like to talk to you about diarrhea. Oh nooo, put the bald guy back on who is selling that hair spray for guys with domes." He started hitting all the late-night T.V. idiosyncrasies. Another channel. "I'd like to talk to you about an itch so private....Ahhh Noooo."

Suddenly the microphone had a buzz in it and Jeni proved improvising was no problem. "Hey all of these technical requirements necessary for a show...(he starts to look around at the few things needed for a comedy show). You would think that the technical requirements would be no problem. That you could count on it being right". He conveyed his annoyance so subtly, you could see why he has started to get movie roles. He wasn't really annoyed and that made the whole scene that much more entertaining. He sold us characters all night and we bought them all.

Golf! Ugh. I know a lot of people play golf, but a lot of people also read newspapers too, but that doesn't mean we should watch them on ESPN reading a newspaper. And there should be defense in golf."

Suddenly he switches to an announcer's voice. "Well Jim, it looks like he was hit in the head by the club, a nine-iron I believe. He is staggering there on the 15th." The voice, the timing and mostly the characterization were all there, effortlessly.

One of Jeni's best skills, which jettisons him beyond the competition, is switching between two characters during his monologue. The characters are often in some sort of conflict and the rapid-fire banter fuels the dialogue. Yet throughout a piece, he maintains a smooth charm that sucks in an audience.

In a take-off on the NFL referee, he merged comedic melodrama with parody. The ref announces the reason for the infraction then lapses into a melodic sharing of his own life. Eventually, he is lying flat on his back, his thoughts breaking up, having an emotional catharsis. "My wife is as big as a cow...kids and condoms ahhhh...I like to wear my wife's clothes when she is not around..." The absurdity went on and on until the crowd couldn't take any more. The ref emerges from his coma, Jeni pauses. We rest.

"You ever notice those lobsters in the grocery store?...just hanging there (he adopts a lobster pose) with that, any word from the Governor look on their face".

At some point, someone from the crowd yelled something at him, but before he could respond, another audience member yelled at the first guy "dummy", Jeni seized the day beautifully with "A rare comedy moment, the audience is heckling itself". An unintelligible shout reached the stage a moment later that no one could understand and Jeni didn't miss a beat. Pausing for just a second, he looked at us dumbfounded and then shot back, "I'm just getting clues from you sir, Are you a spy or something? Uh, I don't know, how 'bout, The dove flies tonight"?

Richard Jeni completed his hour-plus laughfest with some of his best stuff and brought the entire audience to its feet. He came back out for an encore of even more great material.

If you ever get a chance to see Richard Jeni live, do not miss out because he is simply the best!

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Tonight at the Sahara, headliner Richard Jeni mined fresh laughs from the following familiar topics: television, gambling, animals, airlines and the war between sexes.

"Oh great", some of you must be thinking. "Like we haven't heard that same kind of material from every aging hack and struggling middle-act in the universe."

Well, Jeni is different, remarkably so in fact.

The cable TV Ace and 1993 recipient of Best Male Stand-Up Comic from the American Comedy Awards is getting better by the day, proving to be a veritable miracle worker in his ability to take generally tired topics to a completely new level.

His sharp eye, nonstop attack and impeccable timing help create a vast comedic world where anything can happen.

Imperiled lobsters in a restaurant holding tank plea for pardons as jaded diners make like Caesar judging showdowns in the Coliseum. "Bring me the impertinent one...he amuses me," Jeni said in a snobby royal tone that's one of several distinct voices he weaves into his comedic tapestry.

An opening segment about Las Vegas gambling featured a dead-on impression of Jackie Mason attempting to explain the nebulous rules for craps. A tattooed modern woman, "today's woman of the 90's is the longshoreman of the 40's", turns into late actor Edward G. Robinson, who roughly commands her man to "paint my toes" and so on.

These are bright new takes on well-worn subjects, and Jeni's weird and wonderful world expanded with every minute of his slightly long but consistently winning 75 minute set.

Working in well-defined segments rather than merely firing off jokes, Jeni's tale of a nightmarish plane flight couldn't be anything but true. "Safety is our number one problem!" he quotes a frazzled flight attendant as the plane prepares for an unscheduled landing.

His days of living on the road are recapped in a brilliantly blunt look at pornography and wee-hours television infomercials.

Porn, he declares, is "a beautiful love story with all of the boring parts taken out," and mainstream films should try to please both sexes by coming up with fusion flicks such as "Waiting to Exhale...With a Vengeance" and "The Strip Bars of Madison County".

He's a sucker for early morning advertising and his bit on the singing "Johnny Mathis fishing lure" had him in good ol' boy dialect as the pitchman promises, "You'll get more bites than a postman wearing a cat suit in a Volkswagen full of Rottweilers!"

Looking more like a slick country singer than an edgy boy from Brooklyn in his black duds, bolo tie and flashy orange sport coat, Jeni killed the good-sized opening crowd with his dietary theories.

In short, he says it's all right to eat any animal that can't catch a Frisbee. When an audience member later questioned him about the culinary status of house cats, Jeni adopted a snooty French accent to defend his admittedly precarious stance, thus demonstrating his flair for free-form comedy and snappy comebacks. "You were the kid in school that said, "You didn't ask us to turn in our homework", he cracked.

If slightly skewed toward the male point of view, Jeni's masterful assessment of relationships is most even-handed and consistently hilarious. His unique body language, which includes doubling over his stool and, at one point, sprawling on the floor as a forlorn football referee, is bolstered by his stage command and easy manner.

Jeni starred in a short-lived sitcom, "Platypus Man", and has been slowly increasing his profile with award-winning specials on HBO. His latest special, "A Good Catholic Boy," is the foundation of his current live show.

His childhood days of weathering long-winded Masses sets the stage for a funny and creative recollection that includes finding a busy God standing outside to check messages on his cell phone.

And there is plenty more in store from Jeni, a pro who is even able to transform a broken microphone stand into comedy gold. Add an encouraging opening set by Hal Spear and you've got an excellent show that warrants only the highest marks. Don't miss it.