Customer Reviews

Saturday Night Live - The Best of Mike Myers

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

One of the difficulties of the "Best of" series is that someone else is deciding what's best. This is no easy task with a performer who was on SNL as long as Mike Myers. Distilling six years of performance to a mere 16 sketches (20 if you get the DVD version) inevitably leaves the serious fan unsatisfied. To be sure, this effort gives us Myers' principle characters, but they're not necessarily in their funniest sketches. The "Coffee Talk" on the tape is definitely not the funniest one he ever did, though it is the one with the biggest stars in guest roles. Likewise, there are funnier "Sprockets" and "Simon" sketches-but the ones included have serious star power. "Best" in this case seems more often than not to mean "the one where (insert famous person's name here) was on the show".

None of this to say that this isn't a funny compilation. It is. The Wayne's World sketches *are* probably the best efforts, and the others aren't dull by any means.

It just would be nice if Broadway Video did serious fans a favor and used the storage capacity of the DVD format to create performer anthologies. I would rather have *all* the sketches of a particular performer and be able to decide for myself which were the funniest. At the very least it would be nice to have the first of each major character's appearances. It would been even better to have some commentary by Mike Myers and maybe the writing staff on how the characters came into being. Now that the show has reached the mature age of 25, maybe Lorne Michaels will produce a more behind-the-scenes, documentarized compilation series in the future.

Until then, the "Best of" series is a good enough substitute. On balance, however, this may be one of the few video products that might be best bought on VHS instead of DVD. Other than the few additional sketches, many of which are drawn from Myers' return hosting of the show and not his stint as featured player, there are no special features on the DVD. The extra sketches ARE funny, and the Judge Ito Apology sketch marks the closest thing to an appearance of Austin Powers SNL has witnessed. But the question is whether these sketches alone warrant the extra price, or whether you can own the VHS but rent the DVD for one-time viewing.

Along with some of the other reviews, I agree that this is not the BEST compilation of Mike Myers sketches of SNL. I am an avid Mike Myers fan and I love anything and everything he does, but these sketches have been extremely overplayed and overrated on the syndicate version of SNL on Comedy Central. Perhaps Mike Myers fans (who will buy this tape) would like to see some of his funny moments not available in the syndicated version of SNL on Saturday Night Live.

For example, I remember one sketch where Glenn Close was hosting a Christmas special and Mike played an effeminate Tiny Tim. I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. But the sketch is cut out of the Comedy Central version.

I do enjoy some of the rather off-the-wall sketches that are included in this collection. To name a few: Phillip the hyper-hypo sketch, Theatre Stories with Cucumber Jones, and the Weekend Update with Mick Jagger (Myers) and Keith Richards (Jagger).

Coming from a Mike fan, this is just so-so.

I remember Mike Myers being in a lot of funny sketches, but they didn't seem to include many on this disk. I really enjoyed the Wayne's World sketches, and Sprockets (although I would have like to see the one with Phil Hartman dressed as Heidi). Theatre Stories was OK, and the Tokyo Game Show was on the Chris Farley DVD. Most of the other sketches were pretty blah and I found myself reaching for the fast forward several times. Philip (where he plays a hyperactive child) was surprisingly boring. Middle Aged Man and Lothar were also pretty [bad]. I remember liking these on the show, but maybe my tastes have changed? Maybe they just picked some of the [bad] sketches?

Make sure you check out the extras -- there was a very funny Scottish Soccer fan sketch in there.

Oh, I found that the menus on this disk were poorly done and took forever to navigate, at least on my DVD player.

Some other reviewer already mentioned this, but I have to comment on it also. The bonus edition was supposed to contain extra material, outtakes, dress rehearsal etc. Where are the extras? I feel totally cheated because the DVD really wasn't all that. The extras might have saved a lot. Plus the menus are insanely slow and frustrating. All in all it was OK. A few sketches were really funny (e.g. Dieter's dream) but others I found completely useless (e.g. the Lothar bit) Conan O'Brien's appearance in the Lank Thompson sketch was a nice surprise! If anyone has found the extras on the bonus edition DVD, please tell me how to access them.

As an avid SNL watcher, expert & website owner, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this DVD. That was until I actually did and found out that the box & disc it is only cosmetic! The disc is the 1999 release - NOT the new Lions Gate release! It does NOT include the footage it says. What a big disappointment!

While not as versatile as Dana Carvey or Phil Hartman, Mike Myers had his own comedic charm that made him one of "Saturday Night Live's" most popular castmembers in the early 1990s'. Unlike Carvey and Hartman, Myers was a sort of character actor, relying on his own comic creations rather than impressions. Many of those characters have gone to become some of the best - known in "SNL" history and revived it as a sketch - comedy show.

Even if you don't consider this his absolute best, I find it pretty hard for anyone not to enjoy what's on here. Whether you like Wayne from "Wayne's World" or Dieter, host of the German television show "Sprockets", eveything here will make you laugh. Also, a wealth of unknown sketches are here. The "RAF" sketch with Rob Scneider as Adolf Hitler is funny if a little dated (literally dated - it takes place in 1943). "Philip" and "Lothar Of The Hill People" were two of the most controversial sketchs in the show's history. I didn't enjoy the latter sketch but the former is hysterical. The "Simon" sketch is also very funny. "Dieter's Dream" is an eerie sketch. It's easy to laugh at it (especially Phil Hartman's cameo and the "Electric Company" parody with the German nun), but you can't help but be a little freaked out by it. The "Coffee Talk" sketch features hilarous cameos by Madonna (who delightfully disses herself), RoseannEe Barr and Barbara Streisand. The Material Girl also pops up in "Wayne's Wolrd" in the infamous fanatsy sequence. It's quite gross but very funny to watch Wayne and Madonna tongue - kiss each other and to see Dana Carvey dressed in that balck outfit (the sequence is a parody of the controversial "Justify My Love" video). Also included are his hilarious impressions of Ron Wood and Mick Jagger.

This is a very funny dvd. The extras aren't that great. I enjoyed "Wayne's World" immensely and "Judge Ito" was good to, but the rest didn't do much for me. Buy this for the hilarious regular sketches. Also get Dana Carvey and the other "best - off" collections.

What a disappointment! This TRIMARK DVD is a bust! When none of the options worked on my dvd player, 1) jump to scene, 2) subtitles, or 3) additional footage, I discovered it is labeled as SNL-Adam_Sandler on my computer! What's up with this?

I really don't know why this is called the bonus edition. I think you find that many people are saying that these are'nt really the best sketches, but from my experience these Saturday Nigt Live Best of Series are not strictly comprehensive. Mike Myers for instance has done so many high quality gut busting sketches that to take a sample of ten means that automatically many favorites don't make it.

It is worth the dollars and cents though. My name is Simon and I like to do drawings with Danny Devito, English play review with Mikey Rooney and Steve Martin, Dito and Sprockets, Nicole Kidman and the boy with the harness who can't have choclate, and some English toothpaste which is good on crackers, and ofcourse Coffe Talk with Roseanne Barr, Maddona and oh my gosh...

Also Lothar of the Hill people and Mike as Mick from the Rolling Stones with Keith Richards played by the real Mick "Mick you ignorant [...]"

Hey how can you go wrong with Mike Myers. If you are looking for a cure all full line up of great sketches you will be disapointed but the DVD is a good apetizer portion.

This is the one, huge, gaping hole in the whole "Best of Mike Myers" compilation. Those skits - especially the one when Patrick Stewart was hosting the show - were pee in your pants, LOL funny! Way funnier than "Simon" or the toothpaste commercial. I don't own this, and as long as that skit is missing, I hesitate to buy it. It's a pity, because aside from the "Simon" and toothpaste commercial, it's good stuff. I happen to love "Lothar of the Hill People."

For 6 years, Mike Myers remained one of "Satturday Night Live's" most versatile cast members, with his assortment of quirky characters and a few memorable impressions of British celebrites. So anyone would be hardpressed to choose 16 of Mike's best sketches to fit one dvd. Fotunatel, it was an easy task for the people at Broadwat Video, who have put together just about every "SNL" anthology. They sketches span from his first season in 1989 to the 1994 - 95 season, the season in which Myers left during the second half.

All of Mike's classic characters are here. Wayne of "Wayne's World" is represented in 2 hilarius sketches, one in which he and Garth (Dana Carvey) are jamming with Aerosmith and another, more popular one in which they enjoy a "wet dream involving Madonna. I also enjoyed some characters who only appeared once or twice or the ones who appeared many times but never became as popular, like Lothar, Simon, Philip and Middle - Aged Man. His passion for Britian pops more than one in the "Hedley And Wyche" toothpaste commercial, "RAF Hospital", "Simon", "Theatre Stories" and his hilarious impressions of Mick Jagger and Ron Wood. Linda Richman and Dieter are also here. I'm glad that his most popular characters are presented in complete sketches. Carvey and Sandler had to have their most memorable characters (Operaman and The Church Lady) butchered to mere montages on their dvds.

The bonus sketches are okay. I especially enjoyed "Wayen's World" and "Update Ito", bu the others weren't as good. Still, this is an excellent compilation of one of the greatest comedians of our time. Since leaving "SNL", he hit it big as a movie star with "Austin Powers" and "Shrek", but he hasn't forotten the show that made him famous. He hosted in 1997, appeared at the 25th anniversary special and made a cameo in last season's Alec Baldwin episode.