Saturday Night Live: The Best of Steve Martin

What you get is a 76 - minute romp through nearly 20 years of comedy. It's great to finally see the 1970s' classic sketches again. Both hardcore and casual fans will be excited at the inclusion of "Theodric Of York", "The Coneheads And The I.R.S.", "Jeopardy 1999", "The Festrunk Brothers", the classic "King Tut", and even the pointless "What The Hell Is That?". In additon to Martin, Gilda Radner, Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray - the entire original cast (except Garrett Morris). Also is his hilarious for "Rise", a bathroom enhancer. Also, several of his classic monologues are here as well

The 1980s' sketches are among the funniest. There's the hilarious Valentine's day poem "To You My Love", the game show parody "Common Knowledge" (you don't really get the plot until Martin explains the rules of the show), and the James Bond "Bullets Aren't Cheap", the latter featuring a hilarious turn by Sting as Goldsting.

The 1990s' are the funniest. There's the classic "Tonight Song", one of the show's best msuical numbers. "Theatre Stories" is a hilarious sketch featuring Martin as an aging playwright who poops his pants twoward the show's end. Very funny, but Dana Carvey steals the show as Mickey Rooney. "Steve Martin's All - Natural Penis Beauty Cream" is one of the show's best add spoofs. The "Hollywood Minute" sketch is brief but very funny.

That pretty much wraps it up. There are som extras but theren ot worth mentioning. This is an excellent dvd featuring some of the best moments in "SNL" history. I think that anyone who likes to laugh should buy it.

Several skits are really classics and had me in stitches. "The Tonight Song", "King Tut", and "Common Knowledge" are Martin at his best. More obscure skethes like "Jeopardy 1999" and "The Banjo Arrow Monologue" are also pretty funny. However, there were some skits that I did not find very essential. I really didn't enjoy "What The Hell Is That" or "Theodoric Of York" (despite the appearances of Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Jane Curtain and Laraine Newman in the latter). Also, I am sure there are funnier "Festrunk Brothers" sketches than the one included here.

But still, this is a mostly solid collection of classic sketches spanning over 15 years. Let's hope that Lorne Michaels gets his stuff together and asks Mr. Martin to come back and host the show again and revive some of the old magic from "SNL"'s heyday.