Published: May 20, 2008 03:04 pm            

TV REVIEW: 'Mind of Mencia' short on laughs

Sometimes a person can try to do too much.

Take Carlos Mencia. He’s a more-than-adequate stand-up comedian, only he won’t stop trying his hand as sketch comedy host.

The fourth season of his Comedy Central series “Mind of Mencia” starts a run of 10 new episodes Wednesday night. The show mixes his stand-up, man-on-the-street interviews and parodies he puts together.

Judging by the season premiere, he should stick to the first one.

Mencia is a brutally honest person who uses his humor to makes his views known. On the pending depression in the United States, for example, he said in his opening monologue that most Americans can’t comprehend what being “truly poor” is, comparing our complaints about rising gas prices to the plight of many Africans.

“I have not eaten in 10 days,” he said in imitating a poor person from Africa. “Wait — I don’t even know how long it’s been. I had to eat my calendar.”

That’s about where the laughs end. He again mines Africa for laughs in the skit “Dippy’s Happy Hut,” which features a sidekick without arms (”I thought I was playing with a toy,” the stubby puppet said, “but it turned out to be a land mine”) and a clown with AIDS. the attempts at humor here are cheap and shallow, such as refugees working in sweatshops and government troops hoarding the rice supply.

Equally without depth is the cartoon bit “The Adventures of Carlitos,” which is supposed to be a look at Mencia’s childhood. In this chapter, the father is taking his son out for the evening, and low-brow humor is the source of the “punchline.”

“You are about to experience one of our country’s greatest traditions,” the father said to the son, to which the youngster replied, “Diarrhea?”

A few laughs can be had from “Indiana Holmes,” a parody of “Indiana Jones” that shows any ol’ thief can look like an action hero with the right editing and effects. Overall, though, the sketch comedy fails to live up to the expectations Mencia’s stand-up routine sets.

If you’re a Mencia fan, you’re better off buying one of his DVDs or trying to catch him on tour than tuning in to “Mind of Mencia,” which seems to be out of his comfort zone.



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IF YOU WATCH

• WHAT: “Mind of Mencia” sketch comedy show

• WHEN: 10:30 p.m. Wednesday

• CHANNEL: Comedy Central

• MORE INFORMATION: Visit comedycentral.com

• PAUL’S GRADE: C+

        

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