Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36105 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-04-16
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 300 minutes

DVD Description
The acts on the shows are:

Show 1: Ben Elton introduces Harry Enfield, Emo Phillips, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Craig Charles and the Dangerous Brothers

Show 2: Chris Barrie introduces acts including Tracey Ullman, Judy Tenuta, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Hale & Pace, The Dangerous Brothers, Ben Elton.

Show 3: Steven Wright introduces acts including Ben Elton, Craig Charles, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, The Wow Show, Emma Thompson, The Dangerous Brothers

Show 4: Pamela Stephenson introduces Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Harry Enfield, Dennis Healey MP, Craig Charles, The Wow Show, Sam Knison, The Dangerous Brothers, Ben Elton

Show 5: Peter Cook introduces The Dangerous Brothers, Ben Elton, Dawn French & Jennifer Saunders, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Louie Anderson and Raw Sex

Show 6: Lenny Henry introduces The Dangerous Brothers, Ben Elton, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Helen Lederer, The Oblivion Boys, Rita Rudner

Synopsis
Features the best of series 1 of the British comedy show SATURDAY LIVE.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant Nostalgia, but still, brilliant by todays standards.
This DVD brings back some fond memories. Watching this as a kid and thinking you were so anarchic for doing so. The show instantly hit you in the face as soon as Paul Hardcastles theme tune kicked in, with flashy 80's graphics on the opening titles. This show had attitude, was well produced, and was the best programme on TV at the time. Watching it again I realised its not lost that edge. Its still just as funny, just as sophisticated watching it 20 years later. Which is a big testament to just how good the material was from all of its contributors. It has not lost any of its punch and attitude. Some of the gags have dated because they were topical at the time. Apart from that, I was suprised at just how fresh it is to watch 20 years later. Highlights have to be Ben Eltons stand up routines, The Dangerous Brothers (Rik & Ade at their best), The Oblivion Boys (Stephen Frost & Mark Arden), Craig Charles moving and reactionary poems and of course the great Stavros. There are clips of the brilliant Steven Wright and Emo Phillips maybe the best stand ups from across the pond at that time.

My only grumble is that this could of been released as a DVD Box Set of each full episode. So that it included all the bands they had performing, and even including the dross that was admittedly few and far between. There are no extra's on this DVD which is a real shame. Well if there was, I couldnt find them, but I had downed a bottle of vodka whilst watching both discs from start to finish. I couldnt switch it off.

Saturday Live was an era of british comedy that we should all be proud of, something that us thirtysomethings will always remember as the show that shaped our teenage years. It was awesome then, and its still awesome now.

This DVD is a gem and should of been released years ago.

The Best Of "Saturday Live", But Not Exactly The "Best"
Network DVD in my opinion is possibly the most realiable DVD company in the UK. Well that is what I thought until I bought this DVD, I still have the original recordings of the programme from it's first airing in 1986.
From what I read this DVD was titled The Best Of Saturday Live becuase it's only missing the musical acts, I bought the disc still (most music acts on the programme were novelty acts). When I started on disc 1 I found that the archive of the programme came from the repeats titled "Almost Saturday Live", this didn't bother me one bit because I knew that it was exactly the same. After 15 minutes I noticed a quick jump, I then noticed that the advert break boards were missing. I started to get a bit bored after a while (most of those unfunny novelty acts were intact).
The DVD is also missing the original end credits, and are replaced with some ghastly editing. The I discovered that most of the French & Saunders sketches are missing from the DVD, then Stavros was gone for a couple of episodes!
But then again a lot of the remaining comedy was funny enough, at least all of Ben Elton's comedy was there.
The second disc was more intact but still with clumsy editing (an original LWT board appears at the end of a sketch!, but still I like that logo).
The rest of the DVD is very funny, but be warned that only one French & Saunders sketch appears and it's not the best one, some of Lenny Henry's material is missing (including a very funny live mistake), and there's a few novelty acts which have somehow kept their way on the disc.
Because the comedy remaining is that funny the programme recieves 4 out of 5 from me, and 2 out of 5 for the disc.