Absolute scream as a stand-up comedian, showing better than when he has a script in his hand. That entire put-upon, beleagured middleaged whiteman schtick is just so right on the money. Dangerfield makes a very strong comedic point that such men aren't necessarily the enemy, as the postmodernist politically correct ethos would suggest, but just another type of human being complete with the foibles, quirks, shortcomings and fears common to us all. Rodney turns around the enemy identity of his age, gender and social class, disarms it, demystifies it, mining it for masterful comedic effect. And without either the reliance on stupid, mentally retarded, over-the-top knuckleheadism (i.e., that dreadful and unfunny Adam Sandler and the equally vomititious Jim Carrey) or the foulmouthed bathroom humor typical of the so-called comics of the younger generation.