Once again, our long international nightmare is over. Here's my updated list. Feel free to be just like me. When you purchase my presents, grab one for yourself, too. No, really, I insist. These comedy-related products also make great gifts for friends and family. Oh, and thanks in advance!
1. The Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Collection, Vol. One (1949-53)
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Paramount Pictures. Finally, the fellas who kept your studio open during the 1950s get their absent films minted on DVD, although with nearly no extras. That shoddy slight makes me wanna scream "DEEEAAANN!!" Eight of the first nine Martin and Lewis musical-comedies, excluding At War With the Army, come bounding from the box set. Joining the previously released My Friend Irma, My Friend Irma Goes West, and The Stooge are That's My Boy, Sailor Beware, Jumping Jacks, Scared Stiff and The Caddy. By the way, The Stooge is Jerry's favorite of the team's 16, a bit more dramatic than usual.
2. Police Squad! - The Complete Series
In color. Believe it or not, ABC canceled this riotously funny spoof of tepid crime shows because programmers deemed the series to be too good for television! It required viewers to actually look at their screens to see the nuttiness. ABC thought that was a bad idea. Sheesh. Nevertheless, this delightful DVD collects all six episodes of the 1982 saga with dangerously droll Leslie Nielsen as bumbling Detective Frank Drebin on cases (and his Tribute to Judy) long before The Naked Gun movies arrested audiences. Creators David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams offer commentaries, plus bloopers and freeze frame feats.
3. The Complete Peanuts, 1959-1962
Volumes five and six of Charles M. Schulz's landmark comic strip, being published in a handsome hardback series featuring every single drawing of the entire run, hundreds and hundreds of cartoons republished for the first time. We've got another decade to go in the release pattern; meanwhile, enjoy the golden days of a true American treasure, newcomers Sally and Frieda, The Great Pumpkin, and an increasingly strange puppy. I'm collecting and rereading these beautiful books as fast as I can. I can't think of a nicer gift than the early, ground-breaking humor to be found in Peanuts.4. Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1955-1956
Third in a series, says Amazon, with "...every single panel strip ... in one handsome and thick hardcover volume. Ketcham's legendary pen and ink work achieves its full flowering ... as do the various situations and themes that Ketcham would return to: ... Dennis actually flirts with a girl; he rats Dad out to Mom; exacerbates confrontations between Dad and the police; and stymies hapless baby-sitters. Oh, and Mr. Wilson finally comes front-and-center as Dennis' #1 victim." Those '50s cartoons, when Dennis was geared to grown-ups and before shrinking newspaper spaces reduced details, are a visual feast of mischief.5. Looney Tunes Golden Collection - Volume 4
Sixty Warner Bros. theatrical cartoons remastered and restored to their original versions for another DVD box set of great Hollywood films. More behind-the-scenes extras enhance the works of animation's comedic masters: Bugs Bunny, Speedy Gonzalez, the studio's roster of felines, handler Friz Freleng, and a tribute to animator Frank Tashlin, who would eventually direct Jerry Lewis, Jayne Mansfield, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, and Doris Day in live-action cartoons. Audio commentaries, isolated music tracks, World War II shorts, and the informative Bugs Bunny Superstar documentary are included among numerous special features.6. Preston Sturges: The Filmmaker Collection
Preston Sturges was a playboy, who casually fell into the writing of hit Broadway shows. He parlayed success into seemingly overnight Hollywood clout, demanding the unheard of perk of directing his scripts. Then, during the WWII era, he crafted a string of true comedy classics, before burning out seemingly overnight. This box includes his superior Paramount movies (excepting my favorite, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, available separately): Sullivan's Travels, The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, and Hail the Conquering Hero. Lesser gems The Great McGinty, Christmas in July, and The Great Moment sparkle, too.7. Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Book
To date, there have been 50 episodes of writer-comedian Larry David's largely improvised sitcom, easily TV's most solid and outrageous live-action comedy series of the day. I've found this program to be so satisfying, I'm sitting on five unseen-by-me episodes, akin to storing and anticipating vintage wines in the cellar. Someday, we shall watch and savor fine laughter. Meanwhile, this companion book promises cast interviews and behind-the-scenes materials galore. While Curb is bright wit, eliciting loud responses, I'm intrigued by the process and the minds involved in its creation, which I trust the volume to explore.8. T.M.X. Tickle Me Extreme Elmo
Hey, don't scrunch your nose at me. It's not like I'm 55 or something. I want this gyrating, hysterical, rolling-on-the-floor-laughing toy of the decade, from Fisher-Price and Sesame Street. Master Elmo will look swell next to my dancing Mr. Gopher from Caddyshack. I know how to impress the ladies, all part of my elaborate plan to keep smiling.9. Popeye Vol. 1: "I Yam What I Yam" by E.C. Segar
Publisher's note: Fantagraphics collects "the complete run of Segar’s Thimble Theatre comic strip (dailies and color Sundays) featuring Popeye, re-establishing Segar as one of the first rank of cartoonists who have elevated the comic strip to art. He was the most popular cartoonist of his day, his sense of humor coming straight out of Mark Twain, who also balanced exaggerated tall tales and a perfect ear for everyday speech with dark themes that undercut his laugh-out-loud stories. In this first volume, covering 1928-1930, Popeye’s initial courtship of Olive Oyl takes center stage...," plus Castor Oyl and the Sea Hag.10. I Killed: True Stories of the Road from America's Top Comics
Publishers Weekly on the book by stand-up guys Ritch Shydner and Mark Schiff: "Some of the funniest -- and most outrageous -- stories a comedian has don't get told onstage. They're passed around after hours and derive from the bizarre intersection of travel, intoxicants and the colorful characters on the fringes of the comedy world. ... Jerry Seinfeld, in his foreword, calls comedy 'one of the Great Jobs'; this volume makes for excellent bathroom reading -- and that's a compliment." Participants include Chris Rock, Jay Leno, Mike Myers, Larry the Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, Ron White, Joan Rivers, and George Lopez.