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DVD Saturday Night Live - The Best of Phil Hartman
Phil Hartman was one of the most versatile comedians of his time: whether he was playing the voice of Troy McClure on The Simpsons or portraying the pompous Bill McNeal on NewsRadio, his comedy was always fresh and outrageous. His breakthrough was as a cast member of the late-night program Saturday Night Live, where he satirized everything from politics (Bill Clinton, Admiral Stockdale--Ross Perot's misguided running mate--and Barbara Bush) to entertainment (Frank Sinatra and Phil Donahue), creating unforgettable characters along the way. This "best of" video captures his funniest SNL moments and includes the TV special Saturday Night Live Remembers Phil Hartman plus more. Among the highlights are the commercial Compulsion; Bill Clinton jogging to a fast-food joint (which, filmed long before the Lewinsky incident, seems surprisingly prescient as Clinton comments, "There's gonna be a whole bunch of things we don't tell Mrs. Clinton. Fast food is the least of our worries."); Discover the World of Science, where Hartman portrays an annoyingly daft TV host to Jon Lovitz's scientist; Barbara Bush hosting Nancy Reagan at tea in the White House; Cooking with the Anal Retentive Chef; and Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. Brief snippets of Hartman in a variety of his roles show some classic moments without slowing down the pace of the collection. This video also features SNL cast members Dana Carvey, Jan Hook, Chris Rock, Chris Farley, Victoria Jackson, and more. Of all the Saturday Night Live retrospectives, this is one of the most consistently funny compilations and truly showcases the best of Phil Hartman. --Jenny Brown
Review(s): DVD Saturday Night Live - The Best of Phil Hartman
Starts Off Great But Falters At The End
Phil Hartman was a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" for eight years. During that time, he gave the show some its most memorable and hilarious moments. From zany recurring characters to dead - on impressions of people in the news, he always knew how the grab the audience. So after his untimely death in 1998, it was only fitting that the good peole at "SNL" would put together a collection of Phil's best moments on the show. The result, "The Best Of Phil Hartman", was a good collection but many people felt something was wrong.
"The Best Of Phil Hartman" starts off on a high note. Showcasing his memorable impressions such as Bill Clinton (I personally like his better than Darrell Hammond), Phil Donahue, Peter Graves, Ronald Reagan, Barbara Bush and Frank Sinatra (in the funniest sketch on the whole dvd) is a great way to kick things off. In fact, the first 45 minutes or so is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
However, there's a noticable drop in quality after the "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" sketch. Sketches like "Anne Boleyn" and "Robot Repair" are basically filler sketches added for time. Also, there are funnier Frankenstein, Tonto And Tarzan sketches than the one here, but they opt for their first appearance. I would havee loved for an "As World Turn" or "Season's Greetings" sketch. The only real keepers throughout this entire half are the end tribute and "Cooking With The Anal Retentive Chef".
If they wanted to make a great tribute to Hartman, they should have devoted the first half to his impressions and the rest to his many recurring characters. Phil had a lot of memorable and funny characters - Mr. Claymore, gay talk show host Russell Clark, Mace the convict, Susan The Transsexual, Helen and even Jesus (which is actually more of an impression depending on your beliefs). All of them are either missing are butchered to mere snippets in montages.
I was also very surprised that they didn't included "The Environentally Conscious One". This sketch was a parody of the movie "The Wild One" with Alec Baldwin in the Brando role, except he's a defender of the environment fighting pollutionist Phil Hartman. The best part of the sketch is at the end when Baldwin is about to ride off on his motorcycle while the town is being destroyed by pollution when Hartman jumps on and says, "take me with you". Hartman says it so funny and woman - like that Baldwin starts laughing. I truly expected it to be here (though I'm glad they kept the part in the "Greenhilly" sketch from the same episode where Baldwin and Hartman kiss each other).
Overall, this dvd starts off great but really loses steam toward the end. Hopefully they will release of volume 2 of Hartman's best (like Phil's 1990s' successor Will Ferrell, although his second best - off was a lot less funnier than his first). Maybe then they can spare us a complete sketch of his Charlton Heston impression or maybe the "Dating Game" parody on "Sprockets" where he played Susan. Until then, this will just have to do.
A Definite Keeper
While this compilation is not as consistently funny as the Will Farrell ones, it definitely has its moments. Thought he did a great imitation of Donahue (banging the mike on his head, while waiting for an answer was a good touch). The funniest bit (I thought) was the 'Robot Presents' skit. Every time it came back with another title for the show, and the robot explaining that the title doesn't reflect what the shows about, I laughed harder and harder. When he came back with 'Let's Fix, Robots', I literally fell off the couch, because I was laughing so hard! And the Anne Boleyn skit was very well written....especially when she keeps asking what will happen to her head after she is killed (Phil: your body will then be folded up and shot out of a canon....Candice: will my head then be shot at my body?). I also throughly enjoyed the nice sendoff at the end, with him and Jan Hooks imitating an elderly couple, thinking back to their younger days. And knowing he never made it to old age makes it especially touching. I'm not sure, but I think that's Bing Crosby's voice he's singing to.
Some sketches I thought dragged was Clinton in McDonalds. The Barbara Bush skit didn't work, and the Sinatra skit was so-so. The worst one was the opening with Adm. Stockdale....ugh, that couldn't get over fast enough.
So, all in all, a definite keeper. It's nice that you can just fast forward thru the bad stuff, and watch the funny bits.
Great collection
I have to admit that, aside from the original cast, my favorite SNL cast was the Phil Hartman-Jon Lovitz-Dana Carvey era. Such talent, and Phil Hartman was one of the best. Even though some of the targets of his impersonations have faded from memory (Donahue, Adm. Stockdale), his immense comic talent would make them hilarious to one who didn't know who these people were. Others, though, are truly marvelous--Frank Sinatra hosting The Sinatra Group was perhaps my favorite, Bill Clinton visiting a McDonalds was an excellent, if a bit obvious, choice. I smile when I think of his talentless propaganda-movie actor being told by Jon Lovitz that he's not needed anymore, or his Duke of Norfolk talking to Anne Boleyn (Candice Bergen) about possible execution methods. What can one say about his short film with Jan Hooks? It's not necessarily funny, but it is a striking moment, and an indellible image.
Since I was still in grade school when Hartman was on the cast, my only knowledge of his talent before this was the occasional episode on Comedy Central. So, I can't say that I am the ultimate authority on what Hartman did on the show, but that made the DVD more worthwhile for me. I do wish that the Reagan Iran-Contra sketch had been fully included, instead of just a snippet, but I have that one on tape. Although I'm sure that everyone will have their opinion on what they consider to be Hartman's best work, but I think that this DVD represents a good portrait of the man's work, and why he is still regarded as one of the most talented cast members ever on SNL.
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