This guy is so incredibly funny that I now consider him my second favorite comedian behind Chris Rock. He finds the most outrageous people and makes the best jokes, and his add libbing in such odd situations makes for a good time. If you see this show on tv, check it out, you won't be disappointed.
14 Reviews
Dear Dave Attell, I miss you man please come back !
adrianeverett749 June 2011
Ever since I watched this show I felt a kinship to Dave right from the get go. His booze and tobacco filled irreverent night time behavior is right up and down my alley. What a shame only 4 seasons were ever made. I personally feel ripped off by Comedy Central. This show was really good then Comedy Central pulls the freaking plug and Insomniac is not seen again except in Holiday Seasonal Marathons.
I wish and want Dave Attell to buy out the rights to this show and then start putting out straight to DVD and Blu Ray Box Set Seasons. With Straight To Video Episodes Dave Attell can step over the boundaries set by The FCC plus Comedy Central's Standards and Practices and really go for broke. This show is in my opinion better than what is being shown on Comedy Central save for South Park.
I wish and want Dave Attell to buy out the rights to this show and then start putting out straight to DVD and Blu Ray Box Set Seasons. With Straight To Video Episodes Dave Attell can step over the boundaries set by The FCC plus Comedy Central's Standards and Practices and really go for broke. This show is in my opinion better than what is being shown on Comedy Central save for South Park.
This show is "The National Geographic" of late night bar hopping!
bclivesinme13 June 2018
Bar hopping around the United states and his global tour would take you into the night life of bar hopping and drinking but would also dive right into late night jobs such as waste management, Radio DJ's, PEst control and oh yes Fetish clubs...
Everyone was real and no staged actors needed!
With his camera man Brian, Dave Attell would lead you on a drunken ride with only the sunrise to let you know it was time for the show and the night to come to an end.
Dave Attell is one of the funniest raunchy, clever and improv comedians of our time. It was such a amazing show to watch when I was in high school and is still one of the best reality TV show to date.
Everyone was real and no staged actors needed!
With his camera man Brian, Dave Attell would lead you on a drunken ride with only the sunrise to let you know it was time for the show and the night to come to an end.
Dave Attell is one of the funniest raunchy, clever and improv comedians of our time. It was such a amazing show to watch when I was in high school and is still one of the best reality TV show to date.
Brilliant show
kicking22229 September 2001
"Insomniac" might be the most fun non-cartoon to watch on television. Dave Attell is a great person to watch do strange things and meet strange people. It's a shame it has to be on so late (because every aspect of the show is for adults, obviously), and has to be on Sundays instead of Fridays or Saturdays. But "Insomniac" is still worth watching. Congrats to Dave for finding a show that has some true entertainment- even if it has the educational value of an adult film.
Brilliant
unfound9 January 2003
This show is basically one giant tourist show, about one unofficial tour guide and his late night misadventures in different cities. Dave Attell has got the right persona to make the show entertaining for a half hour by going everywhere and anywhere. Attell seriously finds some of the most bizarre people you thought never existed, but he does. Very much an entertaining watch if you've got nothing better to do.
Never a dull moment!
gregorynj1 January 2003
"Insomniac" never fails to make me laugh out loud!
Much of the humor of "Insomniac" comes from the unintended absurdity of the situations that Dave Attell encounters during his nocturnal adventures: big hairy men in blue jeans and leather harnesses whipping each other with a cat o'nine tails in a Boise gay bar; a group of women celebrating a batchelorette party walking down the street with a 6-foot tall inflatable penis; the sometimes incoherent, often nonsensical ramblings of the various street people he meets, etc. "Insomniac" gives credence to the phrase that "you just can't make this stuff up", and this show is proof that reality is often funnier - much funnier - than fiction.
Dave always keeps things moving for the viewer with his great wisecracks and observations. I love the time he was at the Bunnyland Ranch in Nevada - a legal brothel. The house "madam" was giving Dave a tour of the place, including all the "role-playing" rooms (ex., one with a giant crib for people into that sort of thing), when they walk by the business office. Dave says something like, "Is this a real office or part of someone's fantasy" - funny because after seeing the role-playing rooms, now it's plausible that customers could come to live out an office-based sexual fantasy, and Dave's comment articulates the humor of this "anything goes" environment. Dave's follow-up comment: "Could I have sex on the fax machine?" Hostess: "We can arrange just about anything for you".
"Insomniac" is definitely in-the-moment humor that you have to watch firsthand to appreciate. Many of the situations are sexually suggestive...or just downright sexually explicit (images of taboo body parts are screened out)...but this isn't exploitation, because it's all just part of the everyday (everynight?) human behavior that Dave brings us to see. But don't get the wrong idea - "Insomniac" is not just a survey of sexual fetishes. Dave also introduces us to the people who work through the night to keep the world running: sewage plant workers, coal miners, police officers, firemen, among others. While cracking jokes about the jobs these folks have to do and the environments they work in, Dave also helps us appreciate just what these people actually do for a living, often toiling away in anonymity while the rest of us sleep. In that sense, "Insomniac" is more of an urban athropology study (with sarcastic commentary) than a comedy show.
There's a reason this show is on late at nite, but if you're not uptight and can appreciate the humor in the absurdity of human behavior, you won't be disappointed!
Much of the humor of "Insomniac" comes from the unintended absurdity of the situations that Dave Attell encounters during his nocturnal adventures: big hairy men in blue jeans and leather harnesses whipping each other with a cat o'nine tails in a Boise gay bar; a group of women celebrating a batchelorette party walking down the street with a 6-foot tall inflatable penis; the sometimes incoherent, often nonsensical ramblings of the various street people he meets, etc. "Insomniac" gives credence to the phrase that "you just can't make this stuff up", and this show is proof that reality is often funnier - much funnier - than fiction.
Dave always keeps things moving for the viewer with his great wisecracks and observations. I love the time he was at the Bunnyland Ranch in Nevada - a legal brothel. The house "madam" was giving Dave a tour of the place, including all the "role-playing" rooms (ex., one with a giant crib for people into that sort of thing), when they walk by the business office. Dave says something like, "Is this a real office or part of someone's fantasy" - funny because after seeing the role-playing rooms, now it's plausible that customers could come to live out an office-based sexual fantasy, and Dave's comment articulates the humor of this "anything goes" environment. Dave's follow-up comment: "Could I have sex on the fax machine?" Hostess: "We can arrange just about anything for you".
"Insomniac" is definitely in-the-moment humor that you have to watch firsthand to appreciate. Many of the situations are sexually suggestive...or just downright sexually explicit (images of taboo body parts are screened out)...but this isn't exploitation, because it's all just part of the everyday (everynight?) human behavior that Dave brings us to see. But don't get the wrong idea - "Insomniac" is not just a survey of sexual fetishes. Dave also introduces us to the people who work through the night to keep the world running: sewage plant workers, coal miners, police officers, firemen, among others. While cracking jokes about the jobs these folks have to do and the environments they work in, Dave also helps us appreciate just what these people actually do for a living, often toiling away in anonymity while the rest of us sleep. In that sense, "Insomniac" is more of an urban athropology study (with sarcastic commentary) than a comedy show.
There's a reason this show is on late at nite, but if you're not uptight and can appreciate the humor in the absurdity of human behavior, you won't be disappointed!
Drinking????
ticklemetorgo8 October 2005
Yeah there is some drinking in this show. OK it's all about drinking and a little sightseeing too, but my gawd how can one human drink yet still have the energy to go to all these places. Maybe I'm a bit of a wimp. This was a really funny show, Dave is funny and the concept of the show is great. No matter where you are in North America (and around the world) people all like to get drunk and make asses of themselves on camera. I think there should have been a few other cities that Dave could have gone to (Portland Maine for example, or just have a two hour special going thru New England, believe me there is a lot of drinking to be done up here) Maybe he can bring back the show in a few years or so, would be cool!!
Buy a pack of diapers to watch this--you'll be peeing your pants!
bebe2224 February 2003
This show has got to be one of the best on TV. It's so hilarious, whatever Dave does, I laugh so hard at. He does things I never even have heard of!! If you're looking for a great show to just laugh at and forget all your problems, "Insomniac" is the one
All those good times of going out minus the bar smell
njbeachbetty2 October 2003
Drunken frat parties are a thing of the past for most of us, but Dave still makes it look fun! After the sun goes down, armed with a disposable camera, Dave takes us into all the happenings at night - from strippers to street sweepers. With his quick wit he converses with all kinds of folk. And he doesn't forget "something for the ladies..." This show is quite funny - why else would it be on comedy central? See the late night entertainment in all the cities while cozy in your bed.
Better than leaving your house
culwin12 September 2001
Dave, our tour guide, takes us to various locales and investigates the night life there. This involves things like bars, security guards, and just people on the street at night. It's better than most late night TV and a lot safer! Dave is the perfect host because he is the type of guy who can fit in with just about any crowd. Hopefully Comedy Central keeps this around for awhile... it's better than infomercials!!
hilarious
movieman_stl2 May 2003
I've seen plenty of Dave's standup routines and he has a very dark sense of humor. What better way for a dark man to be on than at late night. He travels cities in search of the night life, whether that be clubs, bars, or just people that work the graveyard shift. My favorite scene happened when he went to a bikini contest consisting of only attractive mothers. He took a few photos of the contest which led to a bouncer confiscating it. He simply points to his brain, exclaiming, "THEY CAN'T TAKE AWAY THE CAMERA IN HERE!" I absolutely cracked up. That was only one of the many funny moments this show offers. A must see for anyone.
Surprisingly disappointing, Base-level humor without Attell's usual razor sharp edge
liquidcelluloid-11 June 2004
Network: Comedy Central; Genre: Reality/Comedy; Content Rating: TV-14; Classification: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4)
Season Reviewed: series (3+ seasons)
***Reader Discretion Advised*** 'Insomniac' is a somewhat surprising and odd choice for a series Dave Attell chose to showcase his comic talents. It is essentially the Comedy Central version of E!'s 'Wild On ' where the bald, acerbic slacker comedian walks the streets and wanders into bars, clubs, parties, and festivals, observing the nightlife of cities around the country and sometimes the world.
Attell was poised to breakout big with his terrific stand-up special and recurring spots on 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'. I can't help but think that this show is more a buffer than an accelerator in his career. As funny and edgy as his act is it doesn't translate to this format with everything intact. The humor seems, if you can believe it in this setting, more homogenized or mainstreamed. It's base-level, dumbed down stuff without Attell's usual razor sharp edge, probably to appeal to the 'Girls Gone Wild' Comedy Central demographic. 'Insomniac' shows a kindler, gentler Dave Attell and we are supposed to go along with it because, after all, Attell is at bars, in clubs, around hookers and alcohol and things that Comedy Central just thinks are inherently funny. "Show them and your show will be cool" is the law of the land, no matter how lame your accompanying commentary is. And some of Attell's comments are shockingly lame. Quite a slide from a guy who once advocated that men in his audience spice up their love life by going home and "taking a dump" in the corner so their partner will think there was a wild animal loose in the house. Now that's funny.
Attell selflessly steps back and lets the regular street folks he meets take the spotlight and get the laughs (theoretically). Instead of poking fun at them, he looks into the camera and asks if we'd like to "go over and say hello". The show works best when Attell plays straight man to the ridiculousness around him. When he stands around as a common American while everyone else makes fools of themselves. Or when he tours a burlesque house or a New Orleans fetish parlor with the seriousness of a National Geographic safari, asking question we're all thinking but seem to inane to wonder aloud. That's when the show is really in high gear. Sometimes the old colloquial Attell comes out. He describes Rio De Janeiro as being "like the Super Bowl and the World Series banging each other on top of a pool table".
The show is put together in such a standard and distracting way that it takes away from any feeling of actually being there. We get a lot of quick cutting to Attell's comments (I wouldn't call them wise-cracks or one-liners) as he goes from one scene to the next. No technique is to cornball for the editors as we get more then a few scenes of Attell walking in fast motion through the crowd.
As a fan of Attell's I'd like to see him take a sharper and more prominent role. This is a potential firecracker of comedy, ripe with commentary and satire. I'd like to see Attell grab it by the throat and shake it until the party favors fall to the floor. Instead he serves as our passive tour guide. Without that twist it's just another Girls Gone Wild or 'Wild On '. Come one, this is Comedy Central, not the Travel Channel after 10:00. The show is kind of fun to watch, I'll be the first to admit, but it's little more than a time-passer and could have - no should have - been so much funnier.
* * / 4
Season Reviewed: series (3+ seasons)
***Reader Discretion Advised*** 'Insomniac' is a somewhat surprising and odd choice for a series Dave Attell chose to showcase his comic talents. It is essentially the Comedy Central version of E!'s 'Wild On ' where the bald, acerbic slacker comedian walks the streets and wanders into bars, clubs, parties, and festivals, observing the nightlife of cities around the country and sometimes the world.
Attell was poised to breakout big with his terrific stand-up special and recurring spots on 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'. I can't help but think that this show is more a buffer than an accelerator in his career. As funny and edgy as his act is it doesn't translate to this format with everything intact. The humor seems, if you can believe it in this setting, more homogenized or mainstreamed. It's base-level, dumbed down stuff without Attell's usual razor sharp edge, probably to appeal to the 'Girls Gone Wild' Comedy Central demographic. 'Insomniac' shows a kindler, gentler Dave Attell and we are supposed to go along with it because, after all, Attell is at bars, in clubs, around hookers and alcohol and things that Comedy Central just thinks are inherently funny. "Show them and your show will be cool" is the law of the land, no matter how lame your accompanying commentary is. And some of Attell's comments are shockingly lame. Quite a slide from a guy who once advocated that men in his audience spice up their love life by going home and "taking a dump" in the corner so their partner will think there was a wild animal loose in the house. Now that's funny.
Attell selflessly steps back and lets the regular street folks he meets take the spotlight and get the laughs (theoretically). Instead of poking fun at them, he looks into the camera and asks if we'd like to "go over and say hello". The show works best when Attell plays straight man to the ridiculousness around him. When he stands around as a common American while everyone else makes fools of themselves. Or when he tours a burlesque house or a New Orleans fetish parlor with the seriousness of a National Geographic safari, asking question we're all thinking but seem to inane to wonder aloud. That's when the show is really in high gear. Sometimes the old colloquial Attell comes out. He describes Rio De Janeiro as being "like the Super Bowl and the World Series banging each other on top of a pool table".
The show is put together in such a standard and distracting way that it takes away from any feeling of actually being there. We get a lot of quick cutting to Attell's comments (I wouldn't call them wise-cracks or one-liners) as he goes from one scene to the next. No technique is to cornball for the editors as we get more then a few scenes of Attell walking in fast motion through the crowd.
As a fan of Attell's I'd like to see him take a sharper and more prominent role. This is a potential firecracker of comedy, ripe with commentary and satire. I'd like to see Attell grab it by the throat and shake it until the party favors fall to the floor. Instead he serves as our passive tour guide. Without that twist it's just another Girls Gone Wild or 'Wild On '. Come one, this is Comedy Central, not the Travel Channel after 10:00. The show is kind of fun to watch, I'll be the first to admit, but it's little more than a time-passer and could have - no should have - been so much funnier.
* * / 4
Great show since season 1
rlb1909 October 2003
This show is great I must say. Ever since I saw the second episode i've been watching ever since. The show never gets old and by the time the show is up, your waiting for the next city where he'll be. The show's premise...he goes around to different bars in various cities and shows you a good time. Just a great show and to sum the show up as one other comment I saw...."Brillant"
I hope comedy central picks this show up for a few more seasons, even longer maybe. With so many cities and now that he's going to different countries, it'll definitly be interesting.
rlb
I hope comedy central picks this show up for a few more seasons, even longer maybe. With so many cities and now that he's going to different countries, it'll definitly be interesting.
rlb
A great show...
kingklassy28 June 2003
I happened to see Dave Attell on Comedy Central when his first special aired in 1999 and I thought his material and delivery were amongst the best in the realm of comedy. So, it was a pleasant surprise when I saw an ad on that very same channel two years later for a show called "Insomniac." I've got to tell you, this show is fantastic. Not only do you get to follow Attell through some of the weirdest and craziest stuff that goes on late at night in various cities throughout the US (and with the 2003 season, throughout the world), you get to see Dave at perhaps his best. Brief selections from his act are featured at the top of each show, which are always a treat, but Attell actually works best when he's working off the cuff. His spur-of-the-moment comments to the various debauchery his witnesses are priceless and really make this show worth watching time and time again. This program deserves to remain on the air for years to come...and probably will, considering there will never be a shortage of drunken oddballs walking this Earth.
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