Review of Saturday Night Live: The Best of Eddie Murphy (1998) by Tim S — 26 Oct 2013

Since this came out on VHS and DVD much later than my childhood, Saturday Night Live: The Best of Eddie Murphy is NOT my favorite compilation of some of Murphy's best SNL material. That title goes to the original late 80's VHS release of The Best of Eddie Murphy: Saturday Night Live.

Yes, I know the titles have basically just been reversed, but I have a soft spot for that VHS tape. It's a nice compilation that still works, even though I know now that some of the sketches aren't complete and some laugh tracks were added to the sketches to make them seem funnier.

That release had more of a flow and feeling to it that the latter release just doesn't capture, and both have different sets of material. The stuff you know of is there: Buckwheat, Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood and Stevie Wonder/Frank Sinatra, but both feature various other pieces of material and this release even features the complete sketches that were incomplete on the original VHS release.

Oh well, you can't win them all. This is still a good watch, but I prefer the original much more by comparison. It was a childhood favorite and continues to be one today.