In Our DVD Section: comedy gems

Appropriately enough -- considering it's tax time -- April is National Humor Month! While you're organizing your W-2's and 1099's, why not pop in a humorous DVD and have a laugh?

First up: Sid Caesar. While he began his performing career at age 14 as a saxophonist in the Catskills, it was sketch comedy that would prove to be Caesar's true calling. In 1950s, he starred in variety programs such as Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, performing live television with an impressive array of cohorts, including Fred Allen, Jackie Cooper, Carl Reiner and Bea Arthur. The Sid Caesar Collection: the buried treasures is a trip back to those early days in Caesar's career. Click here to view the Sid Caesar Collection in the PINES catalog.

Tyler Perry became a resident of Atlanta at age 20 and spent the next eight years as a struggling playwright before finding success on the stage show circuit. But it would be a character he created in 2000 that would make Perry a household name: Madea. Success on the stage has lead to success with television series, movie and a NYT best-selling book, allowing Perry to build his very own studio in Atlanta, where it all began. See what Perry DVDs are available at the library here.

The Bank Dick (1940) is from the late, great W.C. Fields  (he wrote the original screenplay under the pen name "Mahatma Kane Jeeves"). In the film, Fields portrays Egbert Sousé, a henpecked, chain-smoking-and-drinking, ertwhile director who stumbles into a job as a bank guard and is tricked into embezzling bank funds. It's considered a classic not only for Fields' slapsick performance, but also for one of the best comedic car chases ever filmed. Reserve this DVD today!]

Nominated for four Academy Awards, Stanley Kubrick's masterful Dr. Strangelove (1964) stars George C. Scott, Slim Pickens, and comedic genius Peter Sellers (who portrays three characters) in a dark comedy about an insane general's attempt to start a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. A classic not only for the writing and acting, but also as a satire within the historical context of the Cold War era. Click here to view this DVD in the catalog. 

If you're a fan of British comedy on PBS, you're probably familiar with Keeping Up Appearances. The prim and proper Hyacinth Bucket ("it's pronounced bouquet") and her perpetually-frustrated attempts at climbing the social ladder first aired for five seasons on BBC in the early 1990s. But why wait for public television to see it again? See an episode on DVD today : )