Product Details

• Actors: Corbin Bernsen, Nora Dunn, Linda Hamilton, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: February 15, 2000
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00003L9CO
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47,874 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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• For more information about "Saturday Night Live - The Best of Dana Carvey" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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's skill as an impressionist was a national sensation, 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 of course 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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent sampling of one of the best SNL personalities, June 25, 2000

By	Douglas A. Greenberg (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Saturday Night Live: The Best of Dana Carvey [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Dana Carvey stopped appearing as a member of the cast of Saturday Night Live in 1992, but he left behind an amazing legacy of hilarious fictional characters, while also showing himself to be one of the leading impressionists in contemporary American comedy. During a period when SNL was largely a hit-or-miss affair (as compared with its classic first five years), Carvey could always be counted on to elicit guffaws when he appeared as Garth of "Wayne's World," The Church Lady, The Grumpy Old Man, Hans the bodybuilder, or even the grossout-inducing "Massive Headwound Harry." But it is perhaps as an impressionist of political and show business personalities that Carvey showed his greatest talent. He became nationally famous for his George Bush impersonation, but he repertoire included so many others: Paul McCartney, Ross Perot, Tom Brokaw, George Michael, Keith Richard, Jimmy Stewart, Johnny Carson, Strom Thurmond, Bob Dylan, and on and on--his ability to capture every nuance of a character was nothing short of astounding.

This video presents an excellent cross-section of Carvey's work, including some hilarious Church Lady sequences, a rapid-fire series of impersonations, and a terrific combination impression of Johnny Carson and Arsenio Hall called "Carsenio." Anyone who enjoys laughing will find this video well worth the money.

It's surprising to me that in recent years Dana Carvey has not found a lot of new venues for his great talent. While his onetime partner on "Wayne's World" Mike Myers has achieved superstar status as "Austin Powers," Carvey has more or less receded into the show business background. Here's hoping that Dana finds his winning show, film, or character soon.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The best of Dana Carvey...NOT, August 26, 2002

By	Zoubouli (Athens, Greece) - See all my reviews

I ordered this DVD (along with several others from the 'best of' collection) because I used to really enjoy watching SNL when I was an undergraduate in CA and because it is unavailable in Europe. This DVD has some mediocre to good skits with Dana Carvey from SNL, but does not include a single full skit of "Church Chat" opting instead for a "Church Chat Montage" which has small snippets of various church chat skits. I found it quite annoying to watch a few seconds of a skit and then have it cut short - I wanted more. My rating of three stars is because I think several full-length skits of 'Church Chat' should have been included as they were one of the most popular (and one of my favourites). For those of you who can tape episodes when they appear as re-runs, I would suggest doing that rather than buying this DVD. A disappointing 'best of' for a great SNL cast member.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back In My Day, Dana Carvey Was On "SNL", And We Liked It!, March 16, 2005

By	Anthony Nasti "Tony" (Staten Island, New York United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Dana Carvey left "Saturday Night Live" 12 years ago, but he left behind a hilarious body of work only matched by Phil Hartman and Will Ferrell. He was one of the show's most vesatile performers of the classic 1986-93 years, creating a wide range of classic characters and dead on impressions. "The Best Of Dana Carvey" features all of his best moments from his seven year career, plus several from his eight guest appearances.

All of Dana's best charcters are here, including the Church Lady, Hans of Hans and Franz, Garth Algar, Grumpy Old Man, Ross Perot and of course, President George H.W. Bush. All of the sketches featured here are hilarious (though I would have preferred a full "Church Chat" bit and the 1988 and 1992 debates sketch with Bush). Also there's a great montage of all his most memorable impressions including George Michael, James Stewart, Paul McCartney and John Travolta and the infamous Il Cantore sketch. The funniest sketch is the Tom Brokaw segment where he's going over various ways of announcing Gerald Ford's deah. As the sketch progresses, each potential from of death gets more absurd, from commmiting suicide to getting eaten by wolves.

If there's any complaints I have, is that are no Ching Chang or "Nightline" sketches (Dana Carvey's impression of Ted Koppell was so hilarious). But still, this is a hilarious look at Carvey's amazing "SNL" career.