Snl: Best of Jon Lovitz

Jon Lovitz first came on the show during the notorious 1985 season, which had an incredible accumulation of acting talent (Robert Downey Jr., Joan Cusack, Anthony Michael Hall, and Randy Quaid, to name a few) but that didn't necessarily apply to sketch comedy. Lovitz, though, shined, as did Dennis Miller and Nora Dunn, and they were the only three to make it to the next year. For the next half-decade he would prove to be a versatile comic diva, bringing a wide variety of characters to the show, including the Pathological Liar (should be self-explanatory); the prince of darkness, Mephistopheles (who seemed to wind up being sued on the People's Court far more often than one might expect); Michael Dukakis (and uncannily, too), and others. Lovitz finally gets his long-overdue recognition with this DVD, and I'm grateful, since he is probably the most underrated performer ever to be on the show. At least with this DVD, SNL is moving back toward its roots, which is a positive direction since it has such history. Anyway, bottom line, this is a great DVD to have.

I'll admit, i'm a sucker for these SNL best of series. I usually wait awhile to get these for 10 bucks or less, but as was the case with the Will Ferrel/Jimmy Fallon dvd's, paying full price(about 15 bucks) for this right away(released as of 6/7/05) is not a bad thing. I'm not a huge Jon Lovitz fan, but he did have some very funny bits/characters, and he was always a solid performer that was counted on to help carry the show every week(and he would deliver too). I'm not here to review or re-cap all the sketches, too lazy for that. Besides, either you enjoyed Lovitz or you didn't, and some sketches are better than others(we all know every collection is a hit-or-miss affair as to the selection of sketches that made the cut or not); and even with his fans, there will always be debate as to which bits better represented his talents. So i'll just tell you why this is a particularly good edition in the series.

A. it runs about 94 minutes. some in the series barely break 60 min! so you're getting a decent dose of quantity here(quality i'll leave up to SNL/Lovitz fans to dissect themselves)

B. the extras are plenty, unlike some other bare bones releases in the series. they include:

* audition: good thing i'm not a talent scout, cause i wouldn't have hired Lovitz based on his audition lol. it's fairly brief, another snl alumni shows up(and does nothing!), and it has a tie-in to the dress rehearsal....

* photo gallery: some pics of mr. Lovitz, also fairly brief.

* dress rehearsal: a decent sketch(never before seen apparently) that also has Leslie Nielson(Police Squad/Naked Gun fame) in it. it's a WW2 bit that has some lines you'll recognize from his auditon.

* tv appearance: from the Conan O'Brian show, this is pretty good as well. there's only one segment(in its entirety it seems) unfortunatley. i say that only because i've seen him on Conan quite a bit and this isn't the best one. but it does include his usual rants at Conan's expense.

* audio commentary: my favorite extra. having him contribute this track really adds to the enjoyment. listening to him reminisce in the commentary is fun and informative and really adds an extra dimension to the disc. Highly recommended if you enjoy SNL, Jon Lovitz, this 'best of' series, comedy in general, or good value in your dvd's.

Jon Lovitz was added to SNL right after a strong season. His troupe was castigated as poor in comparison to what had happened the season before, and, as a result, he sank with the ship (as it were).

At last we have a chance to see what a genius he was. One thing I really appreciated about this DVD was the inclusion of his "forties" productions. I share Jon's love for the period, and his ability to slip into a forties smoking jacket went far beyond "the Master Thespian."

And don't get me started about the Pathological Liar...yeah, that's the ticket.

I'm hoping to see more of Jon in the future; he was pretty much wasted in "Rat Race" and while I like his cartoon voice work, it's his physical comedy that adds so much.

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