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Thirteen Or Bust documents Byrne's night long journey of hopping from club to club via taxi cab, and performing in front of sparse crowds, huge crowds, cold crowds, hot crowds - basically any type of crowd a performer can unsuspectingly face. The 13 spots are spread out over 10 clubs including the Comedy Cellar, Comic Strip Live, Gotham, Carolines, NYCC, Ha!, Stand Up NY, Dangerfield's, etc.

The DVD begins with Steve explaining the concept, and how on a Saturday night, an established comedian usually averages 6 spots. Other comedians chime in with their own personal records, and recollections of other performer's highs. Steve has it all charted out down to the minute, and calls each club to confirm his spot time. Byrne explains all of the factors that can go wrong, and possibly cost him his chance at comedy history.

The journey begins at the bright & early time of 6:15 pm as Steve hops into a cab bound for the Comic Strip. Steve explains how the Comic Strip is an institution, and how every working comedian wants to be passed there. Then comes my favorite parts of the DVD. We are treated to a sort of roundtable discussion involving Bill Burr, Robert Kelly, Dov Davidoff, and of course Steve. The interludes cover many topics a comedian will face throughout their respective careers. The first segment explains the food chain of the business, how you move up in the ranks, & the dues you have to pay to become somebody. It is all a long, and daunting process that each performer has suffered through to get to where they're at today.

Around 6:45 Steve graces the Comic Strip stage and performs for literally a handful of people. Then It's off to Ha! Comedy Club, which holds 2 separate stages. Steve does great in the downstairs room, then literally runs upstairs to perform the same act again for a different crowd. For some reason this crowd HATES him and gives him almost complete silence throughout an agonizing 15 minutes. This is why I LOVE this DVD. We get to see Byrne at his best & worst. A comedy purist can appreciate watching a performer bomb. Thanks to Thirteen Or Bust, we are treated to these raw gems of pain and humbleness, along with triumph & satisfaction - all within an 8 hour span.

The roundtable returns, and the new topic covers comedians & women. Each performer has their own theory on landing some pussy, and how being on stage makes it that much easier. It quickly turns into a bash-fest, as Robert & Bill take offense to Dov's off-the-wall theories and usage of fancy words such as "harangue." This is another great aspect we are treated to, the comedians destroying one another and hilariously busting each other's balls.

Undaunted, Byrne runs across Times Square to do a 5 minute guest spot at Carolines. He is immediately greeted by a heckler who asks if he's an airline pilot, due to his soft spoken delivery. Many cringe moments follow as Byrne tries to handle the wise acre and fails miserably. The 300+ room is in complete silence, while Byrne tries to dig himself out of a huge, gaping hole. Since his set was only 5 minutes to begin with, Byrne isn't able to win the crowd back, and we learn another valuable lesson in standup.

Instead of continuing with a blow-by-blow recap, I will spare ya'll from my drivel by summarizing. The rest of the documentary sails along smoothly, as Steve thrives to make the 9 remaining spots.

The roundtable discussions continue on and provide a great service, while being equally entertaining with all the infighting. We are also treated to Steve's top notch standup thanks to a long cut from his Dangerfield's set in which he killed (although the audio of it is sometimes sketchy.)

The quality & editing however, is awesome, giving it a completely professional, and high budget look to it. This wasn't done in somebody's basement, and jackoff's like me appreciate that.

The hour long DVD is probably the best look into a NYC performers hectic life that we'll ever see. It's insightfulness puts Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedian" to shame, and is a MUST-SEE for any of you go-getters who think they are cut out for the NYC scene.

Finally, kudos to Byrne for putting out such a solid product. 2006 will launch Byrne into the upper echelon of comedy as he will have a Comedy Central Presents special debuting March 3rd, an MTV True Life episode, a continuing tour with Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy show, and hopefully an appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson if he doesn't get bumped again. Steve is such a great guy off stage, too, and I encourage everyone to pick up this DVD, his CD "Little By Little," and catch him live in a club near you.