Unapologetic - D.L. Hughley
Film Reviewed by Kam Williams

D.L. Hughley HBO Special Already on DVD

Unapologetic
Click to order via Amazon

DVD Review by Kam Williams
Very good (3 stars)

Just three days after his stand-up special, Unapologetic, debuted on HBO, D.L. Hughley has released that concert taped in Washington, D.C. on DVD. The irreverent comic’s 60-minute set touches on a variety of hot-button topics, the hottest being the one which inspired the show’s title.

That subject is D.L.’s coming under fire for defending the fired shock jock Don Imus’ ’Nappy-headed hos’ remark. On the Tonight Show last Spring, Hughley said the females on the Rutgers Basketball Team might not be hos but that they were ’some of the ugliest women I’ve seen in my whole life.’

 ’some of the ugliest women I’ve seen in my whole life.’

To no one’s surprise, he doesn't back down from that comment here, now comparing them to Ben Wallace of the Chicago Bulls. ’Sisters’ hair and sweat don't go together,’ he observes, before complaining that the African-American community should be more concerned with its high rates of black-on-black crime, illiteracy and incarceration rather than his quip about kinky hair.

In other bits, he speculates about what it’d be like with Obama in the White House (’chicken wings’ and ’hot combs’) and supports the use of the N-word (’It describes some people I know perfectly.’). Invariably politically-incorrect, as if deliberately attempting to get a rise out of his audience, D.L. makes equally-incendiary observations about Hillary Clinton, Jesse Jackson and illegal immigration, when not taking potshots at more acceptable targets like Paris Hilton, Michael Jackson and the jealous woman astronaut arrested wearing soiled adult diapers.

Is the material funny? For the most part, yes.  D.L. actually comes off better here than he did overshadowed by Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Harvey as one of The Original Kings of Comedy where he was the weakest link. So, the basic question you need to ask yourself in approaching Unapologetic comes down to whether you want to set yourself up to listen to mean-spirited and crude jokes you might be embarrassed to admit made you laugh in polite company. 

Related Links

D.L. Hughley Interview
http://aalbc.com/reviews/dl_hughley.htm

From D.L. Hughley to BET’s Blasphemous "Read a Book" Campaign: What Hath Imus Wrought?
http://aalbc.com/reviews/what_hath_imus_wrought.htm