His sitcom “Mad About You” was very funny for its first few years and proved that Helen Hunt could do comedy. When they rebooted it in 2019, I gave it a chance and, as he would say, not so much. But I’ve enjoyed him in supporting roles in movies like “Beverly Hills Cop” and TV series like “The Kominsky Method.”
He also was a damn fine standup comedian, cut from the same observational mold as Jerry Seinfeld, who started about the same time in the late 1970s. Reiser gave up the life of a comic to concentrate on his movie/TV career until just a few years ago, when he went back on the road with new material.
After honing it for months and months, he finally released one of the shows as a special called “Life, Death and Rice Pudding,” which my wife and I watched recently and really enjoyed.
At the top, Reiser announces his topics will not include politics, current events, or much of anything important. Then he rolls into an hour during which he touches on familiar subjects for a comic of his generation — marriage, aging, relationships, memory issues, etc.
It works because of the word choices Reiser makes. He’s a very precise writer, understanding the way a specific phrase or even syllable enhances a joke — or a tossed-off aside. As for delivery, his timing is still perfect, and there were a couple of times we had to pause the video because we were laughing so hard.
If you’re looking for something new to watch, I recommend “Life, Death, and Rice Pudding.” It is streaming for four bucks on Apple TV, but is available for free on Hoopla, the streaming service made possible by our public library (and probably yours).