Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (Warner, 2003)

Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy are frequently hilarious in this soundtrack of their filmed comedy tour.

Musically, Leon Russell and Brad Paisley offer palatable versions of "Act Naturally" and "Sharp Dressed Man," respectively, and Chris Cagle's defiant "Don't Ask Me No Questions" is first-rate Southern Rock. However, the pre-recorded songs merely serve as a buffer between comedy monologues.

Initially, neither White nor the Cable Guy seems very far removed from open-mike comedy clubs. After a surreal opening about being naked and eating Cheetos, White settles into pretty standard marital comedy typified by this twist on a jewelry commercial, "Diamonds! That'll shut 'er up." The Cable Guy obsessively rants about edible "britches," and claims he will sue Hustler Magazine for giving my wrist carpal tunnel."

Many of Engvall's bits also appear on "Cheap Drunk: An Autobiography," but the routines about his 16 year-old daughter and 20-year marriage still play fresh. Clearly the show's star, Foxworthy imaginatively speculates about a fish's near death experience and recounts a belly-laugh provoking true-sounding story of a man's nipple being bitten off by a beaver.

The comic highpoint occurs when all four comics take turns doing their trademark bits. Among the better-known comedians, Cable Guy and White elevate their game with adding a remarkable story about getting thrown out of a New York bar. Engvall's "Here's Your Sign" and Foxworthy's "You Might Be a Redneck" provide a genuine big show finale. Climbing from ordinary to exhilarating, the final laugh-filled sections makes the whole set genuinely worthwhile.