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

"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.


Frustration with just another "Best Of"   November 4, 2003
donmusic (Tennessee)
22 out of 25 found this review helpful

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!!!


Best of the Best   August 14, 2001
2 out of 8 found this review helpful

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   June 25, 2001
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

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   June 11, 2001
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

This is a great set that should diffinently not be overlooked. I suggest that these movies are a must buy for all SNL fans.