Saturday Night Live - The Best of Dana Carvey (1975)

The opening sequence of this video, a lively and hilarious parody of a contentious Ross Perot press conference, immediately makes one wonder whether the public, when recalling Perot's 1992 presidential campaign, remembers Perot himself or Dana Carvey's dead-on impression of the eccentric billionaire. From his position as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, Carvey's skill as an impressionist was a national sensation, and this video captures him at his best, doing his Perot, his President George Bush (with the trademark fractured syntax and oddly disconnected hand gestures), and a devastating Carsenio, a diabolical amalgam of Johnny Carson and Arsenio Hall. Besides the great impressions, The Best of Dana Carvey also offers sketches featuring the insufferably conceited weightlifters Hans and Franz, Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth of "Wayne's World," and of course the Church Lady (who does her bizarre stiff-backed dance, rips into a mean drum solo, and of course makes her perennial sarcastic comment, "Isn't that special?"). Some sketches, such as one featuring the misbegotten character Massive Head Wound Harry, may make you wonder how it wound up on this tape, but for the most part this is very impressive collection of Carvey's best work. --Robert J. McNamara Amazon.com

Awesome!!!!!!

I am new to SNL, and this was a great intro. BUY IT! I was laughing the whole time, my favorites were the Church Lady. (Isn't that special!) The Wayne's World skit wasn't that funny, but Massive Head Wound Harry made up for it. Dana is brilliant in it. You will get your money's worth! August 8, 2006

Dana Carvey

This is exactly like it state's, "The Best of Dana Carvey" from 1986-1992. If you are familiar with Dana Carvey in any way, you will love this DVD. If you are not familiar with him and you have any sense of humor at all, you will not be disappointed. It has a lot of great skits in it.

Dana Carvey is truly one of the funniest comedians of our time. Carvey has also been in a few movies, notably "Wayne's World", but my personal favorites are "Opportunity Knocks" and a movie for the family "The Master of Disguise" is hilarious. The "Master of Disguise" came out in 2002 and my kids are still saying "I'm a turtle".

Also if you ever get the chance, check out his short lived TV show from 1996 simply titled "The Dana Carvey Show". ABC pulled the plug on this instead of moving it to a later time slot. I wish "The Dana Carvey Show" would make a triumphant return to network TV, but at least we get to see Dana's comedic genius every once in a while on Letterman or Leno. And of course, this "The Best of Dana Carvey" DVD.
August 7, 2005

Back In My Day, Dana Carvey Was On "SNL", And We Liked It!

Dana Carvey left "Saturday Night Live" 12 years ago, but he left behind a hilarious body of work only matched by Phil Hartman and Will Ferrell. He was one of the show's most vesatile performers of the classic 1986-93 years, creating a wide range of classic characters and dead on impressions. "The Best Of Dana Carvey" features all of his best moments from his seven year career, plus several from his eight guest appearances.

All of Dana's best charcters are here, including the Church Lady, Hans of Hans and Franz, Garth Algar, Grumpy Old Man, Ross Perot and of course, President George H.W. Bush. All of the sketches featured here are hilarious (though I would have preferred a full "Church Chat" bit and the 1988 and 1992 debates sketch with Bush). Also there's a great montage of all his most memorable impressions including George Michael, James Stewart, Paul McCartney and John Travolta and the infamous Il Cantore sketch. The funniest sketch is the Tom Brokaw segment where he's going over various ways of announcing Gerald Ford's deah. As the sketch progresses, each potential from of death gets more absurd, from commmiting suicide to getting eaten by wolves.

If there's any complaints I have, is that are no Ching Chang or "Nightline" sketches (Dana Carvey's impression of Ted Koppell was so hilarious). But still, this is a hilarious look at Carvey's amazing "SNL" career.
March 16, 2005

An Excellent Sampling Of Carvey's "SNL" Career

Nowadays when people think of Dana Carvey, they think of another washed up ex - "Saturday Night Live" castmember who makes crappy movies like "Master On Disguise". But when Carvey was on "SNL" in the late eighties and early nineties, Carvey was one of the biggest comedy stars in America, elicitng uproars of laughter alongside Phil Hartman and Mike Myers, to name just two of the rest of that "dream team cast".

"Saturday Night Live - The Best Of Dana Carvey" captures the 6 1/2 years Carvey spent as a cast member on the show. It features all of his most popular recurring characters (though I can't help but notice they didn't include any sketches with Ching Chang, the stereotypical Chinese chicken shop owner who Carvey played 8 times on the show), including the Church Lady, Garth from "Wayne's World", Hans from "Pumping Up With Hans And Franz" and the Grumpy Old Man who used to be a commentator on "Weekend Update". Also included is the infamous "Massive Headwound Harry". This sketch may be disgusting, but it's hilarious.

However, many of the best moments on this dvd are when Carvey is impersonating famous people, whether they're politicians or entertainers. Whether he's doing Ross Perot, Tom Brokaw (the best sketch on the dvd) or President George W. Bush (interesting fact: Carvey has portrayed prez 41 38 times, the second most recurring impression after Darrell Hammond's Bill Clinton (73 times)), he made you feel like he was really them.

Overall, this is an excellent documentation of Carvey's career on "Saturday Night Live". Here's hoping that Carvey gets his career back on track and has a big hit film, because a talent like him truly deserves one.

(Note: Also check out Carvey in "Wayne's World) March 2, 2005

Well, Isn't This Special

Dana Carvey may have left "Saturday Night live" in 1993, but his legacy still lives on. Along with Phil Hartman, he was the most versatile actor of the show's 1986 - 94 seasons, creating a variety of classic impressions and zany characters. This dvd shows just how amazing he was in those seven years (plus the years he came back to host).

Unlike Phil Hartman's dvd, this disc I have no complaints about. If you like good, old - fashioned American comedy, then look no further here. On this dvd, Carvey's most popular comic creatiosn are here. Whether you enjoy the sarcastic Church Lady, the conceded bodybuilder Hanz or the lovable Garth from "Wayne's World", it's hard not to enjoy what's here. Also, there's a series of his amazing impressiosn. In additon to two hilarious George Bush sequences, most of Carvey's repetoire is hre: Ross Perot, Tom Brokaw (the funniest sketch on the whole dvd), Paul McCartney, Johnny Carson (in the infamous "Carsenio"), John McLaughin, George "Look At My Butt, Dennis" Michael, Robin Leach, Prince Charles and a host of others. Even "Massive Hoeadwound Harry" is funny once gget past being grossed out at Carvey's bleeding head and the dog chewing on it.

This is a great dvd honoring one of the greaetst contemporary American geniuses. Highly recommended for "SNL" fans and anybody who enjoys laughing. July 11, 2004

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