Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74931 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-10-10
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com
Saturday Night Live: The Best of Dana Carvey
The opening sequence of this video, a lively and hilarious parody of a contentious Ross Perot press conference, immediately makes one wonder whether the public, when recalling Perot's 1992 presidential campaign, remembers Perot himself or Dana Carvey's dead-on impression of the eccentric billionaire. From his position as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, Carvey became a national sensation because of his skill as an impressionist, and this video captures him at his best, doing his Perot, his President George Bush (with the trademark fractured syntax and oddly disconnected hand gestures), and a devastating Carsenio, a diabolical amalgam of Johnny Carson and Arsenio Hall. Besides the great impressions, The Best of Dana Carvey also offers sketches featuring the insufferably conceited weightlifters Hans and Franz, Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth of "Wayne's World," and of course the Church Lady (who does her bizarre stiff-backed dance, rips into a mean drum solo, and makes her perennial sarcastic comment, "Isn't that special?"). Some sketches, such as one featuring the misbegotten character Massive Head Wound Harry, may make you wonder how it wound up on this tape, but for the most part this is very impressive collection of Carvey's best work. --Robert J. McNamara

Saturday Night Live: The Best of Chris Farley
The Best of Chris Farley blasts through 68 minutes of the wildly hilarious characters the comic actor created while with Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s. Farley was a comedic gem--not only because he created such bizarre, repulsively funny characters, such as Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker, or Lori Davis, cosmetics infomercial queen, but because he lived completely inside the character, delivering lines with whatever fury, stupidity, hypertension, insecurity, or femininity the situation demanded. Clearly, Farley loved making people laugh and he wasn't afraid to use his big bulk to do it, whether it entailed stripping as a Chippendale's dancer, belly flopping on coffee tables, rolling around on a couch as Tom Arnold, or punching his forehead in dismay on the "Chris Farley Show." What's great about this collection is all of those characters appear; what's disappointing is that some don't linger long enough, while others appear a bit too long. The cafeteria-lady number could've been cut short in lieu of a longer Tom Arnold segment, or Herlihy Boy could've been removed altogether in favor of complete "Chris Farley Show" segments. Still, if you forgot how side-splitting Farley's portrayal of Dom DeLuise or the French-fry-stuffing Gap girl was, this video will happily jog your memory. --Karen Karleski

Saturday Night Live: The Best of Mike Myers
From "Wayne's World" to the creepy hilarity of "Sprockets" and its slinky German host Dieter, this 16-sketch compilation showcases Mike Myers in his Saturday Night Live prime. Wayne Campbell and his sidekick Garth (Dana Carvey) are featured in two memorable sketches, jamming with Aerosmith and enjoying a sexy dream sequence with the babelicious Madonna. The Material Girl shows up again as the daughter of "Coffee Talk" hostess Linda Richman (who was inspired by Myers's mother-in-law) in a choice sketch with Roseanne, featuring a cameo by Barbra Streisand that is, as Linda would say, "like buttah."

More obscure sketches show Myers at his most bizarre, charming, and experimental. "Lothar of the Hill People" challenged network censors with not-so-subtle allusions to masturbation and female genitalia, while Myers's penchant for all things British is frequently indulged, including spot-on send-ups of Ron Wood and Mick Jagger. His portrayal of a hypoglycemic, hyperactive 6-year-old--complete with safety helmet and restraining harness--is both outrageously funny and more than a little dangerous. (It's a miracle that guest host Nicole Kidman keeps a straight face as she feeds the "kid" a chocolate bar, with the expected results.) And while other sketches such as "Middle Aged Man" were not likely to follow Wayne and Dieter to big-screen success, they show Myers doing what he does best: conceiving original characters and pushing them to comedic extremes. --Jeff Shannon

Saturday Night Live: The Best of Chris Rock
Comedian Chris Rock spent several seasons on Saturday Night Live, and this compilation tape of his best moments showcases his considerable talents while unintentionally highlighting how uneven the show itself is. Even in a video selected to showcase Rock alone, he is all too often mired as the second or third banana in an SNL skit. But there are, thankfully, plenty of opportunities in this video for Rock to shine without being upstaged by other performers or left adrift by limp writing. When he appears behind the "Weekend Update" desk to deliver an editorial commentary or a news report, Rock puts his considerable skills as a comedian to perfect use. And in the skits where the focus is on him, he proves himself to be adept at characterizations, such as when he dons a colossal Afro wig to become radical talk show host Nat X, host of "The Dark Side." One peculiar surprise about the video: some of the language in the "Def Jam" parodies that was bleeped out for the broadcast of SNL is here presented uncensored, so while this is Chris Rock delivering perhaps his cleanest material, a few choice words are nonetheless delivered loud and clear. --Robert J. McNamara

Customer Reviews

Long Before Austin Powers and Nurse Betty...
With the departure of Eddie Murphy, Dan Akroyd, and other stars that made Saturday Night Live a hit in the early 1980's, Lorne Michaels was faced with a major challenge. Where was he going to get cast members who would be able to capture the humor and wit that the show's early stars emitted every Saturday night on NBC.

Well Lorne went to many of the best comedy clubs in America and Canada to find the new class of comedians that would make SNL a major smash during the early 1990's. Fellow Canadian Mike Meyers, New York native Chris Rock, Chicago native Farley and Midwesterner Dana Carvey round up this collection of the best of the best comedians to ever be cast members on SNL.

"The Best of Dana Carvey" features many of his classic characters including the popular Church Lady. The DVD also features an artistic collage of some of Carvey's best performances including his Johnny Carson sendups, Garth from "Wayne's World" and the ever-irritable Ross Perot. The DVD also contains bonus material such as Carvey's audition tape and other sketches not found on the VHS release.

"The Best of Chris Farley" has some of the best moments the late comic gave on SNL. My favorites have to be the chubby Gap girl who appears in a popular sketch featuring David Spade and Adam Sandler. Another of my favorites, although brief was his impersonation of Carnie Wilson of "Wilson Phillips" fame and Laurie Davis (the infomercial woman who made Cher a laughing stock for a while).

"The Best of Mike Meyers" has to be one of the best in this collection, as it features some of Meyer's most classic characters. Wayne from "Wayne's World", Linda Richman from "Coffee Talk", and Teutonic nutball Dieter from "Sprockets" are all here. I only wish that the DVD contained more Dieter sketches since the sketch titles "Dieter's Dream" left me unamused. The Madonna Dream from "Wayne's World" is also found on this DVD which features a classic comedic performance by Madonna. Madonna also appears in another sketch, this time a "Coffee Talk" sketch where Linda Richman (based on Meyer's real-life Mother-in-Law), Madonna, and Roseanne Barr pay tribute to Barbra Streisand (guess who pops up to surprise the girls at the end?).

Finally, the "Best of Chris Rock" features Rock's classic urban humor and wit. Luther Campbell, "Russell Simmons' Def Jam" shows, and other urban-related comedy sketches are all here. My favorite has to be Nat X and his outrageous talk show. Rock's opening monologue is also hysterical as he points out things that are so true.

Overall, this is a great collection, however I would love to see a DVD compilation of the best works by Adam Sandler, David Spade, and the late Phil Hartman added to this box set. All three comics deserve to be in a box set, and maybe in the future they will be in one. In conclusion, this is an excellent box set of comedy classics from some of today's best young comics. It's a must have for any SNL fan.

Frustration with just another "Best Of"
Another "Best Of!" AAARGH! Now it's a compilation of four. How creative. When, oh, WHEN are we going to get SEASON DVDs of Saturday night Live? How about DVDs of ORIGINAL Saturday Night Live? WHY are they holding out on us?

Who WOULDN'T buy "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON" ON DVD?!

Imagine what a gem that would be! Imagine the special features on that historical period in TV history. Imagine having the entire first season at your fingertips. All the Steve Martin. All the Gilda Radner. All the John Belushi. Surf around to your heart's content, or sit back and enjoy from start to finish. WE WILL PAY!!!
Enough piecemeal "Best Of"s! Why must we settle for these crumbs when there is a feast to be had?! Too much is left out. With mere "Best of"s, we miss out on everything a full episode has to offer, from classic monologues by Richard Pryor and George Carlin to guest appearances from favorites such as Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson's Muppets to rarer yet still hilarious episodes of The Coneheads and Belushi's Samurai (to name a few) to short films to funny captions appearing beneath candid shots of random audience members. We also miss skits that don't fit nicely into any "Best of" because they feature several players working as a unit. We miss out on all the weekend updates. And there is a reason SNL has musical guests! In the old SNL archives are countless musical performances, many of which are now historical.

How long must we scour the cable networks for full episodes of one of the most original, fresh, and influential shows in television history?!!

ARE YOU LISTENING, LORNE?! WE WANT FULL ORIGINAL EPISODES ON DVD!!!

Greate DVD Box Set
The Saturday Night Live 4-pack contains some of the best skits from the long running late night show. The Chris Farley disc is hilarious, containg classic material such as "Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker" and "Schmitts Gay Beer." Mike Meyers, Chris Rock and Dana Carvey also provide enough laughs to make your stomach ache with characters such as "Wayne & Garth from Waynes World," "The Church Lady," and imitations of former president George Bush. DEFINITELY a box set to add to your DVD collection.