Jamie Foxx: Straight From the Foxxhole (2005)

Before he was Ray, Foxx was just another comic trying to break into the biz. So it’s no surprise that his 1993 HBO special, Jamie Foxx: Straight From the Foxxhole, is being released just as we’ve attached the adjective “Oscar-winner” to his name. With topical humor covering cultural oddities as various as Rodney King and David Koresh, his standup routine would have been a great purchase twelve years ago. In Living Color fans will still get a chuckle out of his cross-eyed, loose-lipped character Wanda and his startlingly dead-on impression of Bill Cosby. But with its outdated material, this special doesn’t come close to showcasing the powerful talent he would later display on the big screen as a ''serious'' actor (Booty Call notwithstanding). EXTRAS None, but at the end of his routine, Foxx boasts some real singing and piano playing chops, performing cuts from Peep This, his R&B album.