Product Description
For the first time, Shearer opens his video vault to present a DVD filled with highlights from his work at SNL and HBO, as well as some long-hidden TV gems. SNL highlights include "Men's Synchronized Swimming" (with collaborators Martin Short and Christopher Guest), and "60 Minutes Investigates Minkman Novelties" (with Short, Guest, and Billy Crystal). Cable highlights include Shearer's live HBO special, in which he plays, among others, Michael Jackson and Ronald Reagan. Two hours of sly, smart, and funny TV comedy and satire.
.Astounding Innovations
.Laurie Anderson-Megapads
.It*S Just Tv
.Pledge-A-Bration!
.The Making Of "You Wouldnt Believe Our World"
.Mike Wallace Investigates Minkman Novelties
.Men*S Synchronized Swimming
.The Magic Of Live
Amazon.com
Comedian-writer Harry Shearer's body of work is so substantial that his best-known incarnations (as bassist Derek Smalls in This is Spinal Tap and as the voice of Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, and many others on The Simpsons) are nowhere to be found on Now You See It, a two-hour compilation of performances drawn from Saturday Night Live, HBO, and other sources. That may be a disappointment for some, but there are still plenty of laughs to be found. That's mostly due to Shearer's talents as a mimic and impressionist, as he portrays a dizzying array of personalities, from Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to a spot-on Casey Kasem, a hilarious Laurie Anderson (complete with "O Superman"-style musical backing), and such oddities as Mike Wallace, Charles Kuralt, David Copperfield, and Alan Thicke. While generous applications of makeup and prosthetics create a physical resemblance to these and other celebrities (sometimes freakishly so--Shearer's Reagan appears to have been marinated in formaldehyde), it's his vocal skills that really seal the deal, and the presence of gifted collaborators like Christopher Guest, Martin Short, Billy Crystal, and even Meredith MacRae (gamely playing herself) certainly doesn't hurt. Of the nine bits preserved here, all but one date back to the 1980s, and some are clearly more successful than others. "The Magic of Live," an HBO special from '88, has some funny moments, but it goes on too long (about an hour) and is occasionally irrelevant to modern viewers (hard to see how anyone these days will care about that year's strike by movie and TV screenwriters); on the other hand, some of the shorter pieces, like the "Walter Keane Retrospective" (about the artist responsible for those hideous, kitschy paintings of big-eyed kids and puppies), are a riot. On balance, so is Now You See It. --Sam Graham
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