Saturday Night Live - The Best of Tracy Morgan

In this edition of the SNL DVD series The Best Of, Tracy Morgan shines as one of the most underestimated cast member in recent years. He was part of the show from 1996 ? 2003, only to leave to star in his own short lived sitcom and rarely seen in projects since. Morgan plays an array of characters that range from the typical to atypical that widely demonstrate his comedic abilities.

The opening scene features the first of two segments featuring Morgan as animal enthusiast Brian Fellows. The comedic timing of Morgan interacting with his guest animal experts played by charming guest hosts The Rock and Matt Damon is excellent. Morgan?s portrayal of this ?expert? with a sixth grade education and a strong love for animals feature him at his best. He fights for top billing over his cunning animal guests, and is funny while dealing with the animals working in his imagination to take over both his mind and series.

His turns impersonating female personalities are a strong point of his acting, though barely highlighted on the disc. The portrayal of poet Maya Angelou promoting her new line of greeting cards on Weekend Update is very funny. Each card in the series is her favorite, be it the a from the grave birthday greeting to a grandson or for an African American Bar Mitzvah greeting. I was looking forward to seeing again Morgan?s parodies of The View host Star Jones. However, I was disappointed to see this character shown only in a brief, edited version stuck between full sketches.

A commercial parody featuring the product Uncle Jemima?s Mash Liquor is a strong yet brief clip featuring Morgan as the anti-Aunt Jemima selling liquor that quickly intoxicates those drinking it. Woodrow the Homeless Man is a well written and funny sketch featuring guest host Kate Hudson. Woodrow lures the actress into his home through a manhole in the street to show her a script he is written brings a touching side to this character with his interactions with Hudson, who plays herself.

Some of the sketches which feature Morgan parodying himself include a Weekend Update appearance with Morgan selling himself as the potential first black James Bond and the talk show parody Talking to the Stars with Tracy Morgan and Rachael Dresch hilariously show the differences of the actors, yet produce a fine contrast when interviewing guest star John Stewart.

The sexual overtones in some of SNL?s sketches have been some of the show?s funnier moments. Some inclusions on this disk are a parody of the film King Kong with Morgan and guest star Salma Hayek working to remove an exaggerated body part of the giant ape from their apartment window. Wong and Owens ? Ex Porn Stars is a very funny sketch featuring ex adult film stars re-entering the work force in a corporate office environment. Interactions with the often Funny Cheri Oteri are priceless.

Not all sketches are worth the time to watch. Those making you hit the fast forward button would likely be the Astronaut Jones segments, Pimp Chat or Larry Smith?s Oscar analysis on Weekend Update.

Overall, this is an entertaining collection of Morgan?s sketches and he well deserves the attention. But the disc will likely be a good rental amongst some of your favorite DVDs, as it may leave you hungering for a bit more entertainment at its conclusion.