Review(s): DVD Saturday Night Live - The Best of Jon Lovitz
Great Treatment of an Iconoclast
Jon Lovitz was added to SNL right after a strong season. His troupe was castigated as poor in comparison to what had happened the season before, and, as a result, he sank with the ship (as it were).
At last we have a chance to see what a genius he was. One thing I really appreciated about this DVD was the inclusion of his "forties" productions. I share Jon's love for the period, and his ability to slip into a forties smoking jacket went far beyond "the Master Thespian."
And don't get me started about the Pathological Liar...yeah, that's the ticket.
I'm hoping to see more of Jon in the future; he was pretty much wasted in "Rat Race" and while I like his cartoon voice work, it's his physical comedy that adds so much.
Disappointing
A really disappointing DVD. I love John Lovitz. Funniest guy they had, but this DVD only has a couple of his best bits. Way too much other garbage mixed in with the few good parts.
Get Ready To See "Acteeng!" At Its Finest
To paraphrase a previous review, Jon Lovitz joined the cast in the notorious 1985-86 season. The show was in a bind a this point. The previous 1984 season (the last under Dick Ebersol's reign as execuitve producer) was a big hit thanks to a largely all star cast including Billy Crystal and Martin Short. Lorne Michaels returned as the show's driving force this year, and began searching for raw talrnt to bring the sho back to life. The cast he found was a large assortment of future stars, including Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Randy Quaid, Anthony Michael Hall, Lovitz, Dennis Miller and Nora Dunn. Despite a wide range of talent, the cast didn't work out, and the show was actually cancelled at one point during the summer of 1986. However, Lorne beged for another chance and did what is known in tv as an overhaul, he fired the majority of the cast but kept three promising performers: Dennis Miller, Nora Dunn and Lovitz.
Now, 20 years after joining the cast, Jon Lovitz has finally got his own best of. Although most of the best of's leave SNL fans divided, this dvd is actually a pretty accurate sampling of his work on the show.
To give a brief overview, this dvd gives us sketches featuring all of Lovitz's most popular charcters, including Tonto, Master Thespian, Mephistophilles (the devil incarnate) and the unforgettable Tommy Flannagan, Pathalogical Liar. There are also a few impressions thrown in, including a hysterical Harvey Fierstein bit that had me in stitches. There is also a montage featuring snippets of some other memorable impressions, such as Michael Dukakis (and as one reviewer mentioned, dead on), David Crosby and Queen Elizabeth. There are some sketches that I didn't like such (I could've done without "Tales Of Ribaldry" and especially the one with John Malcovich), but otherwise, this is a really great dvd.
The bonus materials are also very good. I didn't watch the dress sketch yet, but it looks pretty good, something about WWII. His Conan appearance is hilarious, the photo gallery a standard bonus on all best of's and his dress rehearsal is a little boring but shows his talent in progress.
Overall, this is a very well done best of for Mr. Lovitz. It's nice to see the show honoring its legends from long ago.
Related DVD's Saturday Night Live - The Best of Jon Lovitz
Tom Hanks is by far one of the funniest hosts of the program. There is so much material that they could choose from for a "Best Of SNL" and I'm shocked that was what they chose. What gives?!?!??
For one thing, there were three skits (Wayne's World Aerosmith,
Spartan Cheerleaders, and Wilson the Volleyball) where Hanks is hardly even a part of the skit. In fact, in the Wilson one he doesn't even have a line. And many of the other skits had Tom Hanks as a small role.
What I was hopeful of seeing was "Mr. Short-Term Memory," which I think is one of his best reoccurring roles, but the one they chose was not his best one. How disappointing! Are his other ones being saved for another DVD?
Anyways, most (not all) of the skits are fun and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Tom Hanks DVD Release Date: Released the 07 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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John Belushi could say more with an eyebrow than most performers can with their entire body. Yet he wasn't a minimalist. Far from it, he could go over the top in a way that’s never been surpassed. Spanning 1975-1979, this collection includes his bemused Beethoven, who speaks through his fingers rather than his mouth--until he morphs into Ray Charles. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there's "Samurai Delicatessen," in which his Toshiro Mifune-styled chef grunts and slices with abandon, or those "Weekend Update" commentaries, where he implodes at the end of a deranged tirade. Then there's his nimble-footed "Joliet" Jake Blues and the poignant "Don't Look Back in Anger," in which an aged Belushi visits the graves of his cast mates. In these skits, spoofs, and musical performances,... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 6 to 11 days
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Few "Saturday Night Live" castmembers have carved a greater niche in the show's history than Dan Aykroyd. His four years on the show gave us some of the most hilarious moments ever to grace our television screens. From his zany charatcers to his dead on impresions, Aykroyd was a force to be reckoned with.
On September 6th, 2005, "The Best Of Dan Aykroyd" was one of four new "SNL" dvds from the show's first five years released on dvd. It features 22 sketches and has a decent run time of 93 minutes. How does it hold up. Read on for the positives and the negatives.
Positives:
-You get most of Aykroyd's popular recurring characters on here. Beldar Conehead, Leonard Pinth Garnell, Elwood Blues and others are all on this dvd.
-They included the Nerds sketch... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Dan Aykroyd DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Thee will never be another Gilda Radner & how fortunate we are to have some of her funniest moments captured on DVD. I'd be hard pressed to name my favorite sketch, but the one with her as Baba Wawa interviewing "Marweena Detrick," played hysterically by Madeline Kahn (yet another comic genius who left this life too early) brings tears of laughter to my eyes. More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Only the third host to have a "best of" collection (after Steve Martin and Jerry Seinfeld), Christopher Walken showcases his six appearances as host of the show. For the casual fan of Walken's usual edgy film fare, the skits will be eye-opening as he showcases his song-and-dance skills (catch "The Boulevard of Broken Balls" from his first appearance). The Continental, his recurring suave ladies-man character played directly to the camera, is featured twice (the DVD includes a spilt-screen "making of" version along with two darkly humorous skits that never aired). Other skits include Mango's (Chris Kattan) janitor friend Leon who dreams of showbiz, the trivial psychic Ed Glosser (a lampoon of his Dead Zone role), a "Prankster" that goes too far, and music producer Bruce Dickinson... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Christopher Walken DVD Release Date: Released the 07 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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