5/5 Well-deserved
  by Adam Dukovich (Roseville, CA United States)
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.

5/5 one of the better 'best of' SNL relesases...
  by Low-Ranking Reviewer (US of A)
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.

5/5 Great Treatment of an Iconoclast
  by John P Bernat (Kingsport, TN USA)
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.

5/5 Get to know me!
  by George Graham (Los Angeles, CA)
I've been a fan of SNL for many years, and I've seen thousands of sketches and seen cast members come and go. However, even though I had loved Jon Lovitz in his movies like Rat Race and on his guest spots for The Simpsons, I never knew how great he was on SNL. I own 5 SNL DVDs, and this one is my favorite now. Lovitz brings so many memorable characters to the table that it's amazing I never knew about them. There's his court case as the Devil (or Mr. Mephistopheles); his Weekend Update visits as Frenchie, Annoying Man, and as himself, instructing people to get to know him (Donald Trump and Queen Elizabeth did so and look at them now!); the Liar; Hanukkah Harry; the lesser beast to Phil Hartman's beast at the drive-in; the Dunkin Donuts guy; the girl watchers with Tom Hanks ("Hello... and goodbye"); his impersonations of Michael Dukakis, Harvey Feirstein, and others; and a few Hollywood spoofs with Phil Hartman.
With all these great skits, how could you not want this DVD? Maybe Jon Lovitz isn't the best SNL guy, but he's one of my favorites now. It's all because I got to know him, so GET TO KNOW HIM!

5/5 Get Ready To See "Acteeng!" At Its Finest
  by Anthony Nasti (Staten Island, New York United States)
To paraphrase a previous review, Jon Lovitz joined the cast in the notorious 1985-86 season. The show was in a bind a this point. The previous 1984 season (the last under Dick Ebersol's reign as execuitve producer) was a big hit thanks to a largely all star cast including Billy Crystal and Martin Short. Lorne Michaels returned as the show's driving force this year, and began searching for raw talrnt to bring the sho back to life. The cast he found was a large assortment of future stars, including Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Randy Quaid, Anthony Michael Hall, Lovitz, Dennis Miller and Nora Dunn. Despite a wide range of talent, the cast didn't work out, and the show was actually cancelled at one point during the summer of 1986. However, Lorne beged for another chance and did what is known in tv as an overhaul, he fired the majority of the cast but kept three promising performers: Dennis Miller, Nora Dunn and Lovitz.

Now, 20 years after joining the cast, Jon Lovitz has finally got his own best of. Although most of the best of's leave SNL fans divided, this dvd is actually a pretty accurate sampling of his work on the show.

To give a brief overview, this dvd gives us sketches featuring all of Lovitz's most popular charcters, including Tonto, Master Thespian, Mephistophilles (the devil incarnate) and the unforgettable Tommy Flannagan, Pathalogical Liar. There are also a few impressions thrown in, including a hysterical Harvey Fierstein bit that had me in stitches. There is also a montage featuring snippets of some other memorable impressions, such as Michael Dukakis (and as one reviewer mentioned, dead on), David Crosby and Queen Elizabeth. There are some sketches that I didn't like such (I could've done without "Tales Of Ribaldry" and especially the one with John Malcovich), but otherwise, this is a really great dvd.

The bonus materials are also very good. I didn't watch the dress sketch yet, but it looks pretty good, something about WWII. His Conan appearance is hilarious, the photo gallery a standard bonus on all best of's and his dress rehearsal is a little boring but shows his talent in progress.

Overall, this is a very well done best of for Mr. Lovitz. It's nice to see the show honoring its legends from long ago.