Saturday Night Live: The Best of Tom Hanks [Import]

A great collection of skits! Although I must say, this dvd differs from the usual "Best of..." collection. While Hanks does have a lot of funny characters here, I'd say a good chunk of the stuff is just Hanks being funny in an ensemble piece. For example, this dvd includes the Waynes World skit with Aerosmith. A classic sketch, but not one that shows off Hanks at all. Jew, Not a Jew, is another good example. It's just a funny sketch, but not because of Tom Hanks' acting.

So I'm not really complaining. This is a solid solid collection of great sketches.

Run down of what is included:

1. Tom Hanks as the cowboy ice-skater in the '88 Olympics

2. The 5-timers Club with Mr. Steve Martin

3. Waynes World with Aerosmith

4. Mr. Short-term memory - the restaurant one, not the one with Tony Randall

5. Spartan Cheerleaders - not sure why this is on here. Its a funny sketch but it barely features Hanks.

6. Tales of Ribaldry - again, not sure why this is here because it is mainly a skit to laugh at Jon Lovitz, Hanks just plays a straight forward character.

7. Wilson the Volleyball on Update - This also does not belong on here. It is a Will Ferrell piece that features a Hanks cameo right at the end

8. The Losers - on the street corner picking up ladies

9. Big the movie outtakes. Not hilarious, but good.

10. Roxbury guys

11. The Guy Who Played Mr. Belvedere Fan Club - Brocktoon! I was very happy to see this sketch!

12. The Stand Up Comedians Backstage

13. Sabra Price is Right

14. Hanks confessing to his wife (Joan Cusack)how he fantasizes her death.

15. Jew, Not a Jew gameshow

16. Bean Cafe - hilarious skit with all fart jokes.

17. 25th Anniversary piece - Another bit that features Hanks, but the punchlines belong to Chris Walken, Jon Lovitz, etc.

Also, the dvd features 2 dress rehearsal sketches. My mind has drawn a blank with one of them, but the other one is the CLASSIC Nude Beach sketch that aired on the Mathew Broderick episode in 1988. Apparently they had tried this with Hanks when he hosted the week before, but it was cut. I think the Broderick version might be a little better, but I am SOOO glad to have this sketch immortalized on dvd.

Some pretty weak stuff, along with some absolute classics. The out-takes from BIG are the funniest thing on this DVD. Im saddened by the choices of sketches that they put on these SNL DVD's. They left off the "Drunken Asses" sketch, and the Mr Short term memory with Tony Randall, along with many other classic Hanks moments. Its almost as tragic as leaving off the "Get off the shed" sketch on the Will Ferrel DVD's. Thumbs down to the SNL family, as the show itself is now unwatchable, and they cant even do the right thing for the older cast members (you know the ones from when the show was actually funny) on the DVD. Wait for the price to come down on this one...

This volume features Tom Hanks' work on Saturday Night Live, from his first appearance on the ill-fated '85-'86 season through the late nineties, but the majority of the material deals with the Hartman-Lovitz years, my personal favorite cast. Hanks and Lovitz, in particular, are paired quite often, especially in their frequent "Girl Watchers" sketches and an audience interview segment with Lovitz asking Hanks who his favorite performer on the show was (and he doesn't stop until he hears Jon Lovitz). Some of the stuff is familiar--the Wayne's World represented here is the Aerosmith one, and that and "Jew, not a Jew" were available on the videotape. However, there are a LOT of sketches here that will likely not see the light of day again, like Hanks, Damon Wayans, and others playing stand-up comics who deliver every line in their lives like a stand-up act, the really funny "Five-Timers" sketch, which centers around an exclusive club where five-time hosts reside (with SNL poking a little fun at its rarefied image), and a sketch where Hanks plays a loving husband that occasionally fantasizes that his wife is dead. As far as these compilations go, this is one of the best I've seen, on the same level as Phil Hartman's and Eddie Murphy's, and certainly worth a buy. And for the person who left the message about there not being a "Best of" for Gilda Radner, or others, I agree, but then again, Hanks deserves a DVD more than Tracy Morgan and Chris Kattan, need I say more. I'm jumping off a building when they release The Best of Fred Armisen. Just kidding, it will hopefully never happen. Hopefully.