Greg Garrison Presents The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show - Volume Two

Miss-mash is more like it

First off, the show was funny, especially in its later days, probably
a testament to how fast cultural taste in comedy changed from the mid
to late 60s.

Also, one of the great innovations of the show was Dean's disregard of
what I call the "barrier of the proscenium", the separation between
the audience and production staff and the performer, the illusion that
the performer(s) existed in a self-contained universe. In T.V. up to
that time, even with live audiences, the two never mixed. Dean,
however, predates innovators like Letterman in breaking down this
barrier.

However, I couldn't agree more with Red Wood's review. What a
difference 4 decades make.

I bought the first three of the DVDs with the idea that it would
bring back fond memories of all the stars that appeared on
Dean's show. It succeeds in this area, but the humor is out-dated and
even embarasingly bad. This is quite incongruous considering the list
of all-time greats that appeared on the show: Woody Allen, Jonathon
Winters, Rowen and Martin, Bill Cosby, et al.

There's way too much Bob Newhart. While popular in the era, he wasn't
an important comedian like Winters, Allen and Cosby and his shtick
wears thin quickly. The sketches with Winters are bland and flat.
Woody Allen, one of the best stand-up comedians, is dull.

Then there's the Don Rickles sketch in which the sound stage is
converted to a nightclub scene with an audience of real celebrities
which is excruciatingly bad. Rickles in his prime was one of the best
insult comics, but this episode is not a prime example. The bit goes
on for most of DVD 3 and I fast forwarded though most of it.

The music is probably the best part of the collection with
luminaries like a young(er) Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, and the
great Ella Fitzerald.
August 12, 2008

Garrison DVD Dated

Okay, first of all, I just would like to offer a bit of encouragement to all of those from the so-called 'greatest generation'. Please STOP STOP STOP gushing about the 'good old days' & a 'simpler time' & 'how comedy was so clean', WILL YOU? Do you have any freaking idea how all the later generations read all of this? Well, in case you don't, I'll tell you. We just shake our heads, roll our eyes, and ask the obvious question: where is the review? The whole idea here is to REVIEW, people! That means BE SPECIFIC, already! GEEZ! Get with the picture, will you? Okay, I'm done! Now, with that out of the way, here's my review.
First of all, I'm posting this review as a complete overview of these 'Best of Dean Martin...' videos. I'm not critiquing any specific one. Why, you may ask? Well, it's quite simple, really, 'The Dean Martin Show'(1965-74) was a favorite of mine as a child &, from what I've seen here from revisiting, it still holds up pretty well(outside of some of the vaudevillian slapstick). Overall, for the most part, it's pretty good(hence my 3 star rating). The real problem here, though, is with the packaging. Greg Garrison, longtime assistant to Martin, has just slapped this whole thing together without any rhyme or reason to content or style, whatsoever. We're offered simple, quick excerpts from various shows over Martin's nine years on the air. At times, the period jump between seasons is quite extensive-and quite jarring! For example, one of the videos I've seen had an okay sketch with Dom Deluise and Peter Sellers in a barbershop, apparently from the mid-late 60s, considering their dress and Martin's appearance. Then, suddenly, we jump to one of the final seasons & a silver-haired, slightly bedraggled Martin in a sketch with Jonathan Winters-??!?!! Not to mention, Martin seems a little wearier & less involved(perhaps, he was ready to get out of the weekly grind?) Also, there are these '1980s-video styled' reminiscences from a few different stars that appeared on the shows. These are clunkily dropped in, and @ odd moments, with no consideration for content, again. Jimmy Stewart appeared on the one I saw-and, yet, he's NOWHERE to be found on that particular video. Not to mention that all he really says is that it was a 'fun show'. Also, Garrison pops up every now and then saying things like, 'We never knew what might happen when it came to Dean!' WOOAAHHH! We'd better look out for that crazy Dino! No telling what he might do in one of these disorganized excerpts!!! Hold me back!
Okay, all I'm basically saying here is that this'll probably be fine for those EXTREMELY dedicated Martin enthusiasts who loved and adored this period and everything and anything that's released with either Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, and the rest. However, for the rest of us who simply like Martin/the show, I would suggest to wait until Garrison has someone else do it right-ie. season-by-season sets(I mean HELLO! It's the most acceptable &, basically, common form of contemporary packaging in the new millenium! Get out of the 90s, Greg!) A friend of mine, who also likes this classic period of TV was just horrified when he saw this mishmash...and rightly so! Guthy-Renker, the company who has the rights here, is an extremely dated company and has done this very same thing to 'The Carol Burnett Show' & 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In', as well. I believe that TIME Life has also disemboweled 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'. Too bad! These are all great shows & should be seen correctly, as is only common now! I have a message for Guthy-Renker and the cheesy Mr.Garrison: It's 2008, folks, let's start acting like it! Get your silly heads out of the clouds! January 18, 2008

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