Steven Wright: When the Leaves Blow Away (review)

The Jehovah’s Witness protection program. A digital camera so advanced you don’t need it. Fans of the brilliant conceptual mashups of punster Steven Wright have been waiting a loooong time for a new standup concert film -- more than a decade and a half -- and here it is, recorded at a 2006 Toronto performance (it aired recently on Comedy Central). The concert itself is short -- less than an hour -- but the disc is fleshed out with Wright’s 30-minute short film “One Soldier,” from 1999; he wrote, directed, produced, and stars in this surreal Civil War-era Twilight Zone-esque existential dreamscape; its virtuosity is less astonishing when you learn that Wright is an Oscar winner for an earlier short film (who knew?). Also included is short clip from a 1988 standup performance in Boston, a sample of the comic’s early career. [buy at Amazon]

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