Legendary comedy club The Improv opened in New York in 1963. In 1974 they added an L.A. franchise. More followed, but those two clubs acted as the costal anchors for many great comedians, especially into the 1980s as A&E Network began to run its An Evening at the Improv show, which featured short sets by all of the big names in comedy. The show ran from 1982 to 1996, and now, for the first time ever, you can see them again.

Collected in this 4 disc set (also available in a 1 disc shorter version) are the acts of Don Adams, Jimmy Aleck, Steve Allen, Harry Anderson, Dottie Archibald, Sandy Baron, Richard Belzer, Milton Berle, Shelley Berman, Sandra Bernhard, Sheryl Bernstein, Steve Bluestein, Elayne Boosler, Tom Bosley, Pat Bullard, John Byner, Jim Carrey, Judy Carter, James Coco, Billy Crystal, Tony Curtis, Johnny Dark, Spencer David, Julie Dees, Barry Diamond, Phyllis Diller, Tom Dreesen, Bob Dubac, Morgan Fairchild, Charles Fleisher, Glen Foster, Phil Foster, Lorne Greene, Shecky Greene, Robert Guillaume, Arsenio Hall, Rich Hall, Mark Halloran, Darrow Igus, Andy Kaufman, Michael Keaton, Sally Kellerman, Bobby Kelton, Harvey Korman, Maurice La Marche, Christopher Lee, Carol Leifer, Richard Lewis, Patrick MacNee, Bill Maher, Howie Mandel, Jackie Mason, Gail Matthuis, Amanda McBroom, Ed McMahon, Larry Miller, Tony Molesworth, Richard Morris, Gary Mule Deer, Kevin Nealon, Bob Nelson, Leslie Nielsen, Rick Overton, Rick Podell, Paula Poundstone, Billy Rebeck, Tim Reid, Paul Reiser, Paul Rodriguez, Bob Saget, Mort Sahl, Avery Schreiber, Jerry Seinfeld, Tom Sharp, William Shatner, Dick Shawn, Carol Siskind, Bobby Slayton, Bruce Smirnoff, David Steinberg, MacLean Stevenson, Glenn Super, Steve Sweeney, Bo Townsend, Robert Townsend, Daniel Travanti, Willie Tyler, Alex Valdez, George Wallace, Marsha Warfield, Keenan Wayans, Marc Weiner, Fred Willard, Flip Wilson, Shelley Winters, Steven Wright, Robert Wuhl, Jon Bauman, Paul Reubens, Father Guido Sarducci, and Pudgy.

So the question is, do you like old comedy? I don't mean jokes about old people, but literally jokes that are old. These sets are from the 1982-1983  run. Any topical joke has completely lost it's humor unless you know all the context. Similarly most pop culture jokes aren't so funny anymore either. In fact, in the entire set, 12 hours, you'll probably find a good 20, maybe 30, minutes of material that still works and is genuinely funny.

On the other hand, if you want to see a lot of comedians, or actors who started in stand-up, at the start of their careers, this is pretty fantastic collection. You can also see comedians that you may have never heard of because their careers were over before you were old enough to notice.

So, yeah, this is a collection of old stand-up comedy. Either you are going to love this thing to death or you are going to be bored to tears. Personally, I got a little nostalgia out of it because I remember seeing some of this stuff when it aired, and then when it aired again in reruns, and then when it showed up as clips on The Comedy Channel. But then, I'm old. You may not be.