But Seriously, Folks . . .

Fans of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" who aren't familiar with the stand-up comedy of Shelley Berman (who plays Larry David's father, Nat, on the series) would do well to check out "On Location With Shelley Berman." One of four late-1970s stand-up concert DVDs from the vaults of the old HBO "On Location" series (Unrated, Kultur), "Shelley Berman" is easily the funniest, edgiest and most contemporary of the bunch, which also features the work of Norm Crosby, George Kirby and Myron Cohen.

It's easy to see why Berman was cast in "Enthusiasm." His onstage persona in this 80-minute performance at the Chicago Playboy Club is, like that of David's, dark, cynical, more than slightly neurotic and characterized by mood swings fluctuating between self-deprecation and egotism. Like comic Sarah Silverman's act in the recent film "Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic," Berman's comedy is a largely shtick-free hybrid of joke-telling and performance art. Mixing standard observational humor ("Ever watch sports events and notice how the camera always catches the guy fixing his jock strap?") with pantomime (an extended riff on a guy eating popcorn in a movie theater is just brilliant) and the surreal (playing his head like a percussion instrument), Berman keeps the audience constantly off guard, alternately flattering, insulting, confusing and amusing them.

His stock in trade is a series of well-known and sharply acted routines: "Language Barrier" is among the funniest, with Berman playing two foreign diplomats and their interpreter. But he's at his best when you're not really sure whether to laugh at all, as when he "jokes," in offhand fashion, about overcoming his own racism, just as a comely African American bunny/waitress hands him a Scotch on the rocks, or as when he closes the show with a lengthy -- and deeply moving -- monologue in which he plays his own father.

Berman's act is in sharp contrast to the other three offerings in the series. Known for his trademark malapropisms, Crosby peppers his act with such "unintentional" verbal missteps as addressing his audience as "adults and adultresses." Unfortunately, it's almost all gimmick. Take that bit away, and there's not much left to the act.

Kirby is slightly more interesting, if only for the fact that this (disturbingly sweaty) performance was taped shortly before he was arrested on drug charges. Known for his flair for mimicry, the late comic was always an affable performer, shifting easily among (dated) celebrity impressions such as Richard Nixon, jokes, sound effects and song-and-dance. There's something that feels weirdly anachronistic about his act, though, even for the late '70s. Never one for confrontational humor, he comes across as an almost vaudevillian throwback, at a time when fellow African American comics such as Richard Pryor were staring down stereotypes.

The late Cohen's thing was simple: dialect comedy (or, as Steve Allen says in the DVD's intro, "making fun of the speech of immigrants"). Sure, Cohen's a master at it, but it still makes for a vaguely queasy experience in 2005.

With the exception of Berman's offering, these four DVDs are primarily of historical interest. Not to underestimate that value, but, like the pinkie rings sported (oddly enough) by Crosby, Kirby and Cohen, there's something a little cheesy, a little Vegas about their humor. Sure, Berman's guilty of his own cringe-worthy fashion faux pas (we all were circa 1977): a suit with a profusion of cargo-style pockets with contrasting trim that is part safari guide and part lounge singer. Still, "On Location With Shelley Berman" is more than an artifact. It's proof that some comedy really is timeless.