Mondo
Beyondo (1988)
In this spoof of a television
talk show, Midler portrays the Italian bombshell hostess, Mondo
Beyondo. Her guests include monologuist David Cale; Bill Irwin,
mime, comedian and clown; and the bizarre Kipper Kids.
Stars: Bette Midler, The Kipper Brothers, Bill Irwin, David Cale,
David Gale, Stomp and more
Director: Thomas Schlamme
JEFF
JARVIS, People Magazine
HBO
(Sat., March 19, 10 p.m. ET)
In
a few short minutes Mondo Beyondo features mime, break dancing
and rap music. If only they also had an openmouthed gum chewer,
then this one show would have combined every one of my four greatest
dislikes in the world. But Mondo comes close. Instead of an audible
gum cracker, it has the next worst thing: a monologuist. What
torture. The usually wonderful Bette Midler plays hostess to what
is meant to be a parody of cable TV -- on cable TV -- with segments
that are supposed to be cutesy, artsy and cool. In one, an infantile
fool in the middle of a garbage dump pretends that plastic champagne
glasses can sing. In another, two nearly naked men (one played
by Midler's husband, Martin von Haselberg) wearing rubber tires
dump cold SpaghettiOs on each other in a men's room. And I thought
that the most senseless exercise on cable TV was still home shopping.
Wrong again. Grade: D
E-OnLine
In
this spoof of a television talk show, Midler portrays the Italian
bombshell hostess, Mondo Beyondo. Her guests include monologuist
David Cale; Bill Irwin, mime, comedian and clown; and the bizarre
Kipper Kids.
DVDLaser.com,
David Pratt
The hour-long comedy special, featuring avant-garde comedy performers,
is introduced by Midler, sporting a vaudevillian Italian accent
and a constantly oscillating décolletage. Her routine seems
markedly contrasted to the more imaginative efforts of the other
performers. They are even funny, now and then. Featured among
the skits are Bill Irwin deliberately out of synch with a pair
of break dancers; Paul Zaloom performing a multicharacter skit
in a garbage dump for seagulls; the Kipper Kids participating
in a fairly gross food fight; a lovely ballet on the floor of
an empty swimming pool; a nice monolog by David Cale about flying
to America; a fabulous percussion piece by Luke Cresswell and
Paul McNicholas using the urban environment as an instrument;
and more. The stereo sound is fine, and the picture, primarily
from a video tape source, is bright and spotless.