Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show begins like the title, with the man himself. Standing in front of a Hollywood audience, Vaughn introduces Justin Long, Vaughn’s co-star in Dodgeball, perhaps better known as the smug guy in those Mac vs. PC ads Apple’s so fond of. Before Long can say anything, Vaughn snatches away his microphone and introduces his friend and longtime collaborator Jon Favreau. Vaughn and Favreau treat Long like crap, until Favreau turns the tables and reads lines from Swingers – with Long taking Vaughn’s place. It’s funny to be sure, but you can’t help but wonder: Oh, man, am I in for 90 minutes of someone else’s inside joke?

Vaughn’s sneaky like that. The stated goal of the his Wild West Comedy Show, which hit 30 venues across the country in as many days, was to bring some heat to four relatively unknown comedians. Vaughn’s name secures the good venues and gets asses in the seats, and then after a brief introduction and a bit of comedy, the four unknowns take their turns and get the exposure. In that respect, the documentary plays like the live show: Vaughn is all but absent from the middle stretch of the film.

But they are four friends of Vaughn, and their humor reflects his. The four comedians – Bret Ernst, Sebastian Maniscalco, John Caparulo, and Ahmed Ahmed – have routines that run the spectrum from mildly annoyed to agitated, with Ahmed as the most measured and relaxed among them. Their comedy takes a little while to build on you, the result of editing that is either very clever or very inept. I know that for the first 15 or 20 minutes I was less than dazzled. And I also know that by the time I walked out, I had a laughter headache. But hey, I’m a 27 year-old white guy, so I may be more inclined toward this kind of humor than the average bear.

But Wild West Comedy Show isn’t just clips of shows. It’s as much a portrait of the four men as a straight stand-up film. Put any group of men together under that kind of grueling work-drive-work-drive schedule and tensions are bound to arise, which are told more than we are shown. We meet their parents. They tell us what drives them. In one odd and humbling segment, the four comedians hand out free tickets to their show to Hurricane Katrina refugees in Birmingham, Alabama. Perhaps looking at the face of true hardship is what silenced their comparatively minor gripes about exhaustion and cramped living quarters.

Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show will not go down as one of the great live comedy movies. The four comedians are, despite their obvious talent, fairly conventional in their material. (If I never hear a comedian imitate techno music ever again, it will not be too soon.) A lot of it was funny; very little of it stuck for long. The kinds of fragile egos that drive performers to test themselves night after night are only glanced at, and it’s just as well; Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedian covers that ground with exhaustive care. But it is funny, and the genuine good feelings shared between the men is charming enough to get your guard down. The Wild West Comedy Show may have been more entertaining to see in person, but hey – this way’s cheaper.