No sleep 'til Chicago

RICHARD PRYOR OPENED THE DOOR for live comedy films and slammed it shut behind him. Eddie Murphy snuck in a few times before cable television homogenized stand-up, giving rise to the comedy club industry and eventually putting demographically packaged fools on stools to laugh at each other's jokes.

Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show is a refreshing departure from contemporary comedy tour docs, organic in origin if not consistently funny. Vaughn enjoyed hosting a spontaneous live comedy gig in a French Quarter bar so much, he nurtured an idea to take the concept on the road like a traveling variety show. Enlisting a roster of rising talent from The Comedy Store in L.A. and a production crew helmed by The Christmas Story's Peter Billingsly, he set up a 30-day tour that took him from California to Vegas and through Texas and the Midwest before ending in Chicago.

Jon Favreau and Justin "I'm a Mac" Long appear for some improv, but the story becomes about the featured comedians. Egyptian-born Ahmed Ahmed has the most impressive resume and is the most direct descendent of Pryor, but equal time goes to Ohio couch potato John Caparulo, New Yawk "guido" Bret Ernst, and L.A. flip-flop hater Sebastian Maniscalco.

There are some laugh-out-loud routines. Ernst displays surprising physical comedy skills with a bit about adolescent skating, and Maniscalco may be the first comedian to win over an audience with a routine about Ross discount stores. But after a touching visit with late country legend Buck Owens and his disciple Dwight Yoakam, most of the time is spent documenting behind-the-scenes moments and family reunions usually marked as DVD extras. It gets to be a stretch until the tour winds down and you realize you're rooting for these guys to make it, and what a drag it would be if they don't.

MATT KELEMEN