The Best of John Belushi

...Pardon my Ludwig van Beethoven cover of The Temps.

So I'm looking for something play on VHS, as I'm going to be watching in a room with only a VCR. The local ma and pa video store's last VHS new release available is over two years old ("The Passion of the Christ"), so I'm stuck looking at old stuff to rent. The owner points me to some tapes he's looking to dump @ $1.99/ea. (the cost of a rental), and I don't even have to return it. What a deal! This is how I happened to rediscover THE BEST OF JOHN BELUSHI, a tape I originally enjoyed when it came out over 20 years ago. And I want to tell you, even though I've seen all these bits before (and several of them multiple times through the years), the laughs still come. Nearly a quarter of a century after Bluto checked out, he's still one of the funniest guys ever to grace us with comedy.

So sit back and just enjoy Joliet Jake, Vito (along with Laraine Newman's hilarious take on "Valley Speak", which pre-dates Moon Zappa's by 5 YEARS!) , Miss Liz Taylor (and her lodged chicken), Samurai Delicatessen, The Thing That Wouldn't Leave, Joe Cocker, and Belushi's Shatner impersonation, perhaps the first real satirical take on Captain Kirk's crappy acting from STAR TREK. It'll have you in stitches. Promise!

Belushi was a true original and is sorely missed. This is a video that every comedy fan needs to have in their collection. His comedic talent was astounding and it is great to see him in his heyday in the sketches like the Blues Brothers, the Little Chocolate Donuts Commercial, the Samurai, the Hulk, the rants on the News, etc. If I could pick the 10 best players in an "ultimate 1975-2001 SNL lineup" they would include Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Dana Carvey (the top 3 I think), Gilda Radner, Martin Short, Will Farrell, Adam Sandler, Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, and Billy Crystal. Also included would be pre-1984 Steve Martin as the host and Dennis Miller, Norm MacDonald, Tina Fey and Chevy Chase as quadruple-anchors for the news (ok that's 15). There are so many talents that spawned from the show, but Belushi's star shone brightly -- it's a shame he didn't stick around with us longer. Note: this was SNl's first "best-of" videos - I recall it being priced at a modest 19.95 for the Xmas season in 1985! Also, check out the Eddie Murphy one, another 10/10 video!

How can they put out the Best of Chris Rock and the Best of Adam Sandler on DVD, and pass over this one? Further proof that young people definitely have more influence in marketing and media than us "oldies." This compilation does not include all of John Belushi's greatest skits from SNL, and I would have tossed out a few (the Bees, for example, which I never found funny). But, like the Best of Eddie Murphy (which, I think, is coming out on DVD soon, so maybe there's hope), there are moments in this video that I can watch over and over and still cry from laughing so hard: Joe "John" Cocker, an impromptu parody of Joe Cocker that's dead-on (and, typical for John Belushi, completely over-the-top); Samurai Delicatessen (any of the Samurai skits would have done, but this one is perfect); The Godfather in Group Therapy; his "cool, snorting" Beethoven. It even ends on an ironic, somewhat morbid note (a little skit showing Belushi as an old man, talking about how he outlived the other players). Message to Warner Home video--GET THIS OUT ON DVD, AND QUICK!!!!!

Judy Jacklin Belushi (now Belushi-Pisano) writes about putting together this collection in her book "Samurai Widow". It is wonderful - a great goodbye to the Love of her life. Even if you didn't love him before, you will after watching this.

You see Belushi at his best, including doing Beethoven, the Godfather, Joe Cocker, and more. Most are better than the real person being portrayed could have done it.

Unfortunately, my VCR ate this tape and killed itself doing it. It STILL isn't out on DVD, but I check every now and then. If you are fortunate enough to run into the tape, or if you live in the future and the DVD was finally released, don't miss this. You'll laugh and cry and smile and maybe even sing a little. You won't watch it just once.