Comedy skits from Saturday night live featuring the comedian Gilda Radner. - (Baker & Taylor)
Video Librarian Reviews
Gilda Radner, who died in 1989 of ovarian cancer, was Saturday Night Live?s first sweetheart: a postmodern Lucille Ball who was beautiful, brilliantly funny, and fiercely committed to her characters. One of the things that made Radner so endearing was her rapport with her inner child, as witness her virtuoso turn as young Judy Miller (who transforms her bedroom into a fantasyland) and that sweetly funny and very knowing slumber party sketch in which schoolgirls talk about sex ("Nothing that sickening is true." "Boogers are true."). Baba Wawa, Candy Slice, Roseanne Roseannadanna, and of course, Emily "Never Mind" Litella are all represented here, but for me it was watching ?ber-nerd Lisa Loopner fight off the awkward and clumsy advances of Todd (comedic soul mate Bill Murray) that recalled a time when SNL celebrated misfits instead of making them objects of ridicule. Also included in this thoughtfully compiled collection is the haunting Fellini parody, "La Dolce Gilda," which further demonstrated Radner?s vast range. DVD extras include Radner's original SNL screen test, interviews with Tom Snyder and Jane Pauley, and remembrances from cast members, former hosts, and writers. "To see her was to be smitten with her," one remarks?and there's no greater testament to this than the classic "Dancing in the Dark" sketch, in which Steve Martin and Radner portray singles bar patrons who share a Fred and Ginger moment. Highly recommended. [Note: also newly available in the series are The Best of Dan Aykroyd and SNL: The First Five Years.] (D. Liebenson) Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2005.