Customer Reviews

Ray Stevens - Comedy Video Classics

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ray Stevens is a great singer and he's a wonderful pianist of all types of music. This home video is hilarious and it closes with the serious "Everything Is Beautiful".

Four of the eight music videos were made prior to 1992: "Sittin' Up With the Dead" and "Help Me Make It Through The Night" were released in 1990 and "Santa Claus is Watching You" goes back to 1985 (his very first music video release). "Surfin' U.S.S.R." was Ray's second attempt at a music video in 1988.

The remaining four music videos are first runs: "The Streak", "Everything Is Beautiful", "It's Me Again, Margaret", and "Mississippi Squirrel Revival".

The most elaborate video is 1988's "Surfin' USSR". Ray added the opening sequence, which isn't part of the 1988 recording, involving a meeting between Reagan and Gorbechev, both voiced by Ray.

In the background the two wives get in a fistfight! Buddy Kalb, one of Ray's songwriting partners, played the part of the Russian woman chomping on a cigar.

The home video release of COMEDY VIDEO CLASSICS (1992) was #1 for nearly a year and Billboard named it 'VIDEO OF THE YEAR' for 1994. This is the project that inspired Ray to have music videos be a major focal point in his career.

Ray Stevens has been tickling America's funny-bone for over forty years, and I've been a fan almost as long. His gifts are many: skillful and prolific songwriter, brilliant comedian/humorist/satirist, and a pretty darn good singer who can switch gears from silly to soulful on a dime. Ray's extraordinarily well-crafted novelty songs are in a class by themselves: He's the undisputed Master of the genre, as far as I'm concerned.

"Comedy Video Classics" is a tour de force of humor of the lowest brow, and I'm hear to tell you, it is funny. "Help Me Make it Through the Night" starts seriously, but soon turns into a free-for-all of outrageous sight gags and sound effects, with Ray playing about a dozen different parts. In the mildly risque "It's Me Again Margaret," Ray's an obscene phone caller who utters the immortal line "Are ya nekkiiiiiiid!" to his plus-size victim. (The video has an amusing twist ending.) "Santa Claus is Watching You," a rockin' early tune, isn't particularly funny (despite shamelessly exploiting a Little Person for cheap laughs), but it does showcase Ray's agility with witty lyrics. Ray is in very good voice on "Sittin' Up with the Dead" and has a field day making fun of a creepy Southern custom. The catchy "Surfin' U.S.S.R.," a Cold War send-up done Beach Boys style, has the video's best sight gag: Russian sailors holding up pictures of Communist leader Vladimir Lenin while Ray flashes one of John Lennon. Surely aimed at rigid Southern Baptists, "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" has Sister Bertha Better-Than-You and members of the First Self-Righteous Church getting their hilarious comeuppance one fateful Sunday. Ray's hugely popular "The Streak" makes a perfect transition to video, complete with cheesy animation, and gives Ray his best role as a Caterpillar-cap wearing redneck trying to protect his wife Ethel from the evils ("He was a-dribblin'!") of that Seventies fad. Finally, just to prove he has a serious side, Ray does his classic "Everything is Beautiful," a sentiment that's hard to argue with after you've laughed so hard.

While obviously made on the cheap, the videos are smartly directed and edited and the production values are modest but professional. More importantly, the good time being had by cast and crew comes over like a tidal wave. It bears mentioning, too, that the musicianship on all the tunes is absolutely top-notch.

I've owned this video for ten years, and everybody I've ever shared it with has near about rolled on the floor. It's
family-friendly and a sure cure for whatever ails you.

This video is side-splitting comedy at its' best! The entire video is hysterical, but "Sitting up with the Dead" will have you rolling on the floor with tears from laughing so hard.

Ray Steven's Comedy Video Classics is the funniest video I've ever seen. The songs are funny in and of itself, but the videos are even funnier. My favorites are "It's Me Again Margaret", and "The Mississippi Squarrell Revival". I recommend this video to whoever needs a laugh.

Classics indeed! This was a hilarious collection of Ray Stevens's videos including "The Streak," "Santa Claus is Watching You," "Mississippi Squirrel revival," and "Everything is Beautiful." If you like Ray Stevens, you will love this collection. I loved it. Yeah, I did.

My aunt had this video when I was a kid and when I seen it I had to get a copy of it. I love Ray Stevens in this collection he is one of a kind. Now I am getting to share this with my child.

While some of the bits on this video are somewhat dated (Surfing USSR, The Streak) even they are enjoyable.

No, the video quality isn't even up to what VHS can do, and no, Ray Stevens is not a virtuoso, or even a particularly good singer. He's just fun to watch and listen to. My Pastor especially enjoyed "Mississipi Squirrel Revival" about the effects of a crazed rodent in a meeting of the "First Self-Righteous Church" and I had the memorable experience of explaining to my then six-year-old son what a "streaker" was. I really hope he never asks if I did that too.

He's not politically correct, he's not a really good musician and he's not up-to-date. What he is is a lot of good, mostly clean fun.

2 of my grandchildren grew up watching this and laughing their heads off. They are now grown so I am getting it for them to have for their children to enjoy when they have them.

I was glad that I was able to find this video. We love the old Ray Stevens songs and they're on there. The quality of the video is not great; I guess it was redone from a VHS. I still enjoy it because he's so funny. For the price, it was a good value.

I purchased this as a Christmas gift, so haven't actually watched the DVD. However, it arrived very quickly and in perfect condition.