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List Price: $49.98 | | Label: Trimark
Salesrank: 45305
Released: October 10, 2000 |
| Our Price: $68.00 |
| Used Price: $10.89 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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
Saturday Night Live 4-Pack (The Best of Dana Carvey/Mike Myers/Chris Rock/Chris Farley) Reviews:
A Mostly Perfect Collection 
2004-04-03 - With so many great comedians gracing the stage of Studio 8H at 30 Rockfeller, you'd think that it's so hard to gather the best material from only 4 cast members in a nearly 30 - year history. But this boxed set proves everybody wrong. Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, Chris Rock and Chris Farley, make up this hilarious 4 - disc set. And while there's quite a few flaws here and there (more on that later), it's always good for a laugh and a half.
"The Best Of Dana Carvey" gathers some of the Montana - born comedian's best moments, from The Church Lady to Garth to Hans, as well as lesser - known characters like Derek Stevens and the slightly disturbing Massive Headwound Harry. Also included is a hilarious montage of his greatest impressions ranging from his classic George Bush to Robin Leach to George Michael. Great stuff.
"The Best Of Mike Myers" gathers 6 years of lively and hilarious sketches. While most fans will want this solely for the "Wayne's World" sketches, don't overlook other sketches like "Theater Stories", "Phillip" and "Tokyo Game Show", all of which are equally funny than Wayne, Linda Richman or Deiter. Also his Mick Jagger sendup (featuring the real Jagger as Keith Richards) is brutally funny to say the least.
"The Best Of Chris Rock" is my first sticking point. Rock spent 3 seasons on the show and gave the show some of his greatest works ever, like "The Dark Side With Nat X" and a host of classic "Weekend Update" commentaries, both of which are included here. But there are way too many sketches in which Rock is pushed to the background while another castmember outshines him and everybody else in the sketch, such as Phil Hartman in "The Sinatra Group", which nonetheless is one of my favorite "SNL" sketches ever. Still, pretty funny.
"The Best Of Chris Farley" is a disappointment. For five years, Farley gave the show his all. A lot of his best works are missing, while some are butchered to mere snippets in the montage segments. However, great sketches like "Lunchlady Land" and "Superfans" are shown in their entirety.
Overall, a great boxed set. The only one that's better is the 8 -pack that features these 4 dvds as well as the best of Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler and The Bad Boys. Still, it's good. Hopefully in the future, we'll get discs devoted to the best of Kevin Nealon, Jan Hooks, Norm Macdonald, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Chris Kattan, Darrell Hammond, Rachel Dratch and Mya Rudolph, to name a few.
Best of the Best 
2001-08-14 - I love this collection of comic geniuses. I enjoy watching everyone of these comedians and their numerous characters that they play. I recommend anyone who likes to laugh, to buy this collection.
Great deal for some great DVDs
2001-06-25 - There are some really funny skits in this package. Dana Carvey is the best! Chris Farley does his "Matt Foley" scenes and Mike Myers plays the parts that he started his fame with. The Chris Rock DVD isn't as funny as Chris is in hit stand up. I found them to be lacking in quality (and a lot of his parts were not lead parts) but the package is a great buy just because you're getting so many other good skits. ENJOY!
it's a great contrabution to SNL alumni
2001-06-11 - This is a great set that should diffinently not be overlooked. I suggest that these movies are a must buy for all SNL fans.
It's a great movie.
2001-06-10 - This is the best dvd set out there better than the Rambo sets and Arnold sets. It's a must have for any snl fan.
