Fortenberry, John

A Night At the Roxbury (Special Collector's Edition)

Expanding their one-joke skit from television's Saturday Night Live, Chris Kattan and Will Ferrell are Doug and Steve Butabi, the wearers of the rayon suits and Speedo trunks who bob their heads in unison to dance music while unsuccessfully preying on women in clubs. What's funny in a three-minute piece doesn't always get funnier by expansion, but Kattan and Ferrell give it a go with fellow SNL member Molly Shannon as their ambitious neighbor. By day they work in their father's fake-plant store. By night they prowl the club scene after spraying on the cologne in their gauchely decorated bedroom. A fender-bender with Richard Grieco (playing himself) gets them into the popular club the Roxbury, but it's not all good news, as the brothers soon find themselves torn apart. Doug and Steve are pathetic but lovable, mostly due to the actors' talents for self-deprecating humor. All gifted comedians, Kattan, Ferrell, and Shannon obviously feel comfortable around each other, and their love triangle (which prompts send-ups of Say Anything and Jerry Maguire) is the funniest joke in this mostly lame comedy. Too bad, because it clocks in at about 80 minutes and could have run on television as a pretty good episode of SNL, which has been known to get a bit lame itself. --Shannon Gee

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 28-AUG-2007
Media Type: DVD

A Night at the Roxbury

Expanding their one-joke skit from television's Saturday Night Live, Chris Kattan and Will Ferrell are Doug and Steve Butabi, the wearers of the rayon suits and Speedo trunks who bob their heads in unison to dance music while unsuccessfully preying on women in clubs. What's funny in a three-minute piece doesn't always get funnier by expansion, but Kattan and Ferrell give it a go with fellow SNL member Molly Shannon as their ambitious neighbor. By day they work in their father's fake-plant store. By night they prowl the club scene after spraying on the cologne in their gauchely decorated bedroom. A fender-bender with Richard Grieco (playing himself) gets them into the popular club the Roxbury, but it's not all good news, as the brothers soon find themselves torn apart. Doug and Steve are pathetic but lovable, mostly due to the actors' talents for self-deprecating humor. All gifted comedians, Kattan, Ferrell, and Shannon obviously feel comfortable around each other, and their love triangle (which prompts send-ups of Say Anything and Jerry Maguire) is the funniest joke in this mostly lame comedy. Too bad, because it clocks in at about 80 minutes and could have run on television as a pretty good episode of SNL, which has been known to get a bit lame itself. --Shannon Gee

The Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 1 (1989-1990)

Gathers the first season of shows by the Canadian improvisational group.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: KIDS IN THE HALL
Title: SEASON 1
Street Release Date: 04/24/2007
Domestic
Genre: TELEVISION

Thirty Helens agree: The Kids in the Hall is a funny show. (Mr. Tyzik, the bitter Head Crusher, however, may not agree.) The no-holds-barred sketch comedy is also strange, silly, profane--occasionally even profound. The five Canadian writer-comedians behind it, Dave Foley (NewsRadio), Bruce McCulloch (Superstar), Kevin McDonald (That ''70s Show), Mark McKinney (Saturday Night Live), and Scott Thompson (The Larry Sanders Show), formed the troupe in the early 1980s. Naturally, they weren't really kids, but boyish-looking men in their twenties and thirties. SNL's Lorne Michaels produced the series, which lasted for five seasons, and aired on HBO, Comedy Central, and Canada's CBC. It garnered three Emmy nominations and was followed by the theatrical cult classic The Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996) and several tours.

The Toronto-based team took more inspiration from the absurdity of Monty Python--and the craziness inherent in everyday life--than the topical humor of SNL (on which celebrities, politicians, and pop culture are frequent targets). Each 30-minute installment features short, punchy skits (some filmed in advance, some before a live audience), men in drag, and no special guest hosts or stars (musical or otherwise). During their small-screen rein, the Kids took aim at everything from mainstream comedy and corporate culture to sexism, bigotry, and pretension. Many of their best-loved characters first appeared during the 20 episodes produced between 1989-1990. They include the 30 Helens (30 Helens standing in a field agreeing about something or other), Tyzik (McKinney), rockin' Bobby (McCulloch), bickering Fran and Gordon (Thompson and McCulloch), chatty Cathy and Kathie (McCulloch and Thompson), the "Nobody Likes Us" guys (Foley and MacDonald), and the acerbic Buddy Cole (Thompson).

Canadian underground heroes Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet provided the icing on their spicy little cake with their wistful surf-rock theme "Having an Average Weekend." --Kathleen C. Fennessy

The Kids in the Hall Megaset

For five groundbreaking seasons Canadian-bred comic prodigies THE KIDS IN THE HALL stretched sketch comedy to its ultimate limits with hilariously off-the-wall results. With a cast of comic creations only the brilliant--or truly twisted--could imagine THE KIDS IN THE HALL: THE COMPLETE SERIES MEGASET presents the Kids nearly 800 sketches from every single episode of each season in this stunning 20-disc set. From the infamous Chicken Lady and Crushing Your Head to Buddy Cole and the romantically challenged Cabbage Head these pioneering edgy and ever-charming comedians always managed to land on the stranger side of funny--and look good in floral dresses while doing it. Unhinged unprecedented and unfailingly unpredictable the Emmy® nominated critically acclaimed cult favorite THE KIDS IN THE HALL is at long last available in its sidesplitting entirety. Be warned: the complete compendium of THE KIDS IN THE HALL could lead to irrepressible episodes of spontaneous head-crushing. FEATURING: Buddy Cole Hecubus Head Crusher Chicken Lady Apathetic Cop Gavin Sir Simon Milligan A.T. & Love Boss The Queen Cabbage Head Bad Doctor Francesca Fiore Bearded Lady Flying Pig Satan DVD Features: An Oral History-Season 1: 45 Minutes of Interviews with the Kids and Lorne Michaels; An Oral History-Season 2: 15 minutes with the Kids Paul Bellini and Lorne Michaels; Audio Commentary by The Kids; 10 Best-of Compilations Featuring Fan-Favorite Sketches; Over 90 Minutes of Original Performances from the Rivoli Theater; Archival Footage Never-Before-Seen-on-TV; Original KIDS IN THE HALL Performance Poster Gallery; Slide Show; Cast Biographies; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 733961760477 Manufacturer No: AAE-76047

The Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 2 (1990-1991)

All your favorite characters are back for the second season of The Kids in the Hall--but the stakes have been raised. Bobby (Bruce McCulloch) is still rockin', but now he's battling more than just his parents in "Bobby vs. Satan." (Shades of the Charlie Daniels Band!) Meanwhile, the increasingly outrageous Buddy (Scott Thompson) steps off his bar stool to manage the Sappho Sluggers in "Buddy Plays Softball," does time in "Buddy Cole in Jail," and is freed by a batty judge (Dave Foley) in "Justice."

Then there are the other familiar faces. Cathy (Thompson) and Kathie (McCulloch) are still dieting, Fran (Thompson) and Gordon (McKinney) are still bickering, Cabbage Head (McCulloch) is still trying--in vain--to score and, after a potentially debilitating injury, Mr. Tyzik (McKinney) is still crushing heads. (Alas, the 30 Helens and the "Nobody Likes Us Guys" appear to have gone missing.)

This four-DVD boxed set of the Canadian sketch comedy includes all 20 uncensored episodes from 1990-1991 (Comedy Central censored the occasionally-foulmouthed series). Along with the old favorites, the one-offs, and the black-and-white movie spoofs (Kevin MacDonald and Foley did once work in an art-house movie theater after all), there are several new characters. They include the Cops (McCulloch and McKinney), the Sizzler Sisters (MacDonald and Foley), Simon (MacDonald) and Hecubus (Foley), Mr. Heavyfoot (Foley), Chicken Lady (McKinney), and incredibly annoying know-it-all Gavin (McCulloch), who only eats onions. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Populating their realm with such uniquely bizarre creations as the Chicken Lady, Cabbage Head, and Mr. Heavyfoot, THE KIDS IN THE HALL took aim at everything from corporate culture to drug culture and sexism to suburban angst, crafting one of sketch comed

Greg the Bunny - The Complete Series

Cheers to Fox for even putting Greg the Bunny on the air, and jeers to Fox for yanking it after a mere season (an ignominious fate it shared with The Ben Stiller Show and Andy Richter Controls the Universe). Ripe for discovery, this cult-worthy 2002 series took its cue from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and anticipated the subversive Tony Award-winning Muppet spoof Avenue Q by imagining a world in which puppets (or, to be more PC: "fabricated Americans") live amongst humans. Greg, a sweet-natured bunny, lives with his best friend Jimmy (Seth Green), a slacker whose father, Gil (the inestimable Eugene Levy), is the director of the "struggling," "low-rated" children's show Sweetknuckle Junction. Greg prevails upon Jimmy to get him a job on the show, but Greg inadvertently finds himself replacing the star. the washed-up Rochester Rabbit. Jimmy signs on as the production assistant to watch over Greg, and to pursue the icy network executive, Alison (comedy siren Sarah Silverman). Rounding out the human cast is gun nut Junction Jack (Bob Gunton) and ditzy, puppet-loving (and we mean that literally) Dottie (Dina Walters).

The puppet ensemble is no less impressive than the "fleshies." There's Count Blah, a vampire with a Sesame Street complex and a penchant for punctuating his sentences with "blah"; Warren "Professor Ape" Demontague, a soused monkey with thespian pretensions (and an ongoing feud with neighbor Corey Feldman); Tardy Turtle, an appellation which, unfortunately, does not just refer to his lack of speed, and Susan, a monster who makes Janet Reno look like Salma Hayek. Profanity and crude behavior emanating from puppets is certainly good for some easy laughs (prepare for the worst when adorable laundry icon Snuggles enters a bathroom stall in the episode "Father & Son Reunion"). But Greg the Bunny plays it smart as well, with sly in-jokes and movie references (catch the King Kong homage when an enraged Demontague jumps on Gil's shoulders in "Blah Bawls"). The show only got better and funnier as its lone season unfolded, making its cancellation that much more keenly felt. A Family Guy-type resurrection seems unlikely, but what about a Count Blah spinoff? Until then, this features-stuffed two-disc set, complete with clips from Greg's humble public-access beginnings, cast and in-character commentaries, behind-the-scenes segments, and a new Tardy featurette, will really sock it to you. --Donald Liebenson

Uncut, uncensored and unrelenting, Greg the Bunny stars Seth Green and Eugene Levy and is rude, crude, and stuffed with attitude. TV wasn't ready for him. Are you? The complete series on DVD includes two never aired episodes and much more. Puppets are people too!

Action: The Complete Series

Immoral, politically incorrect, and fiercely funny, Action: The Complete Series is a timeless comedy focusing on a group of Hollywood insiders whose moral compass has spun out of control. Led by uber-producer Peter Dragon (Jay Mohr), the series' first and only season ferociously lampoons the sleaziness of modern-day Hollywood. Dragon--seemingly the separated-at-birth brother of slimy uber-agent Bob Sugar (also played by Mohr) from Jerry Maguire--is a jerk who pretends to be gay when it's convenient and doesn't understand why Salma Hayek (playing herself) would slap him silly for making inappropriate suggestions during an earlier audition. In Dragon's lair, sexual harassment is an inconvenience, the screenwriter is an afterthought, and a movie isn't a film unless it's got mega-explosions. Mohr and Illeana Douglas (portraying an ex-child star turned prostitute turned studio executive) are a joy to watch. When a sycophantic colleague accuses Dragon of promoting a hooker over him, he calmly says, "She's my prostitute. You're my whore." A subtle difference, yes, but one that makes a world of difference in Hollywood. If there's a plus side to this topnotch series being canceled in 1999, it's that the writers didn't have time to let the show disintegrate into hackneyed clichés. There is no warm-hearted parable to justify the nasty means--just a lot of quick-witted dialogue and an excellent ensemble cast that makes viewers enjoy the characters despite (or should that be because of?) their numerous flaws. --Jae-Ha Kim

Jay Mohr stars as Peter Dragon in ''Action'' the comedy series about a film exec who hits bottom and finds the only person who will help him get his company back on track is ex-child star turned hooker Wendy Ward (Illeana Douglas).System Requirements:Running Time: 299 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 043396075405 Manufacturer No: 07540

Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 5

This is it the final installment of the inspired mayhem and lunatic brilliance that was the KIDS IN THE HALL tv phenomenon (before the inevitable "Best Of" "Retrospective" "Reunion Specials" and other wallet-sucking formulations arrive of course). But there's no such crass commercialism here just an honest-to-goodness collection of North of the Border based sketch comedy delivered by five men utterly unafraid to don a dress in the name of a good laugh (or frankly a cheap giggle).The 20 complete episodes from the fifth and final season are joined by the series finale and augmented by expanded audio commentary from the Kids and a host of other great extras. Don't miss this opportunity to complete your KIDS IN THE HALL collection.System Requirements:Running Time: 525 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 733961756296 Manufacturer No: AAE-75629

Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 3 (1991-1992)

With greater success comes greater confidence. Fortunately, the Kids had the talent to back it up. For their third season, the Canadian quintet upped the ante with more location work (the show is less set-bound than before), more extras (especially senior citizens and canines), and more special effects (Bruce McCulloch's Flying Pig, Kevin McDonald and his twin, Scott Thompson and his robotic double). The basic format, live sketches combined with short films, remained the same. As with their second year, the Toronto troupe brought back a number of fan favorites, while introducing a bevy of new eccentrics.

Like a cartoon version of Freaks, the Chicken Lady (Mark McKinney) returns with new bosom buddy the Bearded Lady (McDonald). Better yet, she discovers scantily clad stripper Rooster Boy (Thompson). Can she handle the excitement? (Short answer: No.) Other returning characters include gabby geek Gavin (McCulloch), bitchy bar man Buddy Cole (Thompson), Jacques Tati-like Mr. Heavyfoot (Dave Foley), clueless Police Department Cops (McCulloch and McKinney), and Sir Simon Milligan (McDonald) and Satanic manservant Hecubus (Foley). Even the "It's a Fact" girl makes a reappearance, although McKinney takes her place when she demands more money ("Triple scale!").

Third year highlights include McDonald's uber-blasé Empty Promises Guy ("It slipped my mind…") and McCulloch's catchy "Terrier Song," in which he extols the virtues of the popular breed ("Give terriers a chance / Do the terrier dance"). Unlike most sketch comedies, The Kids in the Hall was never about guest stars. Nonetheless, sharp-eyed viewers are sure to recognize a pre-Party of Five Neve Campbell in "Pizzeria," in which McDonald and McKinney become gibbering idiots in her private schoolgirl presence. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Overwhelming audience demand brings THE KIDS IN THE HALL back on DVD with another brilliant set of sketch comedy classics! After two highly influential seasons, the comedic quintet hit their stride in THE KIDS IN THE HALL: COMPLETE SEASON THREE. Writing and performing every sketch, everyone's favorite shape-shifting Canadians offered up more uproarious, risqué, but always sweet and charming takes on life's absurdities. From familiar favorites like the Chicken Lady and Mississippi Gary to brilliant originals like "Flying Pig" and "Girl Drink Drunk," THE KIDS IN THE HALL always found their unique humor in the strangest corners. DVD Features: New Audio Commentary by the Kids; 2 Season 3 Best-of Compilations Featuring Fan-Favorite Sketches; 30 More Minutes of Never-Before-Seen-On-TV Performances from the Rivoli Theater; Slide Show; Biographies; And More…

Just Shoot Me - Seasons One and Two

When Just Shoot Me debuted on NBC on a Tuesday night (following Frasier) in 1997, the spirited sitcom had the feel of an instant winner. The casting alone was an inspired blend of talent from uniquely interesting sources: George Segal, the veteran actor best known for comic performances in such 1970s film classics as Blume in Love and California Split, was certainly overdue for a hit. Laura San Giacomo, a strong and intriguing presence for a decade in a number of key movies (sex, lies, and videotape, Pretty Woman) promised good things as the series' lead player. Wendie Malick, the former model turned ubiquitous supporting player on the likes of NYPD Blue and Seinfeld, had left an especially indelible impression on HBO's long-running comedy series Dream On. Finally, David Spade, fresh from his great ride as a Saturday Night Live cast member, brought a version of a popular SNL character (Dick Clark's supercilious receptionist) to Just Shoot Me, playing the haughty assistant of Segal's magazine publisher.

The show's premise was fresh, too, and the nice thing about revisiting JSM's first two seasons is realizing how well the whole enterprise holds up. Giacomo stars as serious-minded journalist Maya Gallo, fired from her job as a television newswriter after sabotaging a clueless, on-air anchor. Desperate for work, Maya turns up at the offices of Blush, a women's fashion monthly published by her estranged father, Jack (Segal). Maya reluctantly takes a job writing sex quizzes and similar dreck for Blush, but it's the snippy and vainglorious crossfire between the magazine's staffers, and between Maya and Jack, that makes JSM so much fun. Malick's aging diva, Nina Van Horn, alternately lashes out and unburdens her soul in a failing bid to remain vital in a youth-obsessed culture. Self-centered Jack offers Maya a father's long-delayed love--albeit on his terms. Spade's Dennis Finch chases leggy supermodels around the office like a pathetic loser in junior high. Another cast member, Enrico Colantoni, is very good as the likable but impulsive, womanizing photographer Elliot DiMauro, who becomes an increasingly important player as he and Maya develop feelings for one another in season two. Somehow Just Shoot Me never quite lit up NBC's primetime stable of hit sitcoms, but it did respectably well and now looks even better divorced from its television competition. --Tom Keogh

STOP THE PRESSES! High fashion goes lowbrow as TV's cleverest comedy shoots from the hip: JUST SHOOT ME - THE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS compiles (31) classic episodes from this long-reigning (1997-2003) fixture from NBC's Must-See-TV line-up. Nominated for six Emmy Awards® and five Golden Globes® (including Best Comedy) this acclaimed ensemble comedy was a critical and audience favorite during its seven-season run spanning the hilarious gamut from catwalk to casting couch. Set in the bustling editorial offices of fashion rag Blush JUST SHOOT ME chronicles the daily grind of the magazine's quirky staff as lovesick columnist Maya Gallo penny-pinching publisher Jack Gallo acid-tongued beauty editor Nina Van Horn in-house photographer Elliot DiMauro and power-hungry assistant Dennis Finch serve up all the laughter that's fit to print. Arriving on digitally remastered DVD for the first time JUST SHOOT ME: THE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS reminds us that razor-sharp wit never goes out of style.System Requirements:Starring: David Spade Laura San Giacomo George Segal Wendie Malick Running Time: 689 Min. Copyright Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 2005Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 043396039971 Manufacturer No: 03997