From Roseanne Roseannadana to Baba Wawa to Lisa Loopner to Emily Litella, comedienne Gilda Radner, along with Laraine Newman and Jane Curtin, was a veteran "Not Ready For Prime Time Player" and original "Saturday Night Live" cast member – in fact, Radner was the cast member hired for the show by producer Lorne Michaels. Predating the athletic hilarity of a, say, Molly Shannon, Radner was known for crafting lovable characters and putting them in situations requiring extreme physical comedy (in the featurette "An Inside Look," it's revealed that Radner actually broke a rib and still went ahead with the sketch that had broken the rib in rehearsal)– helping fuel the comedy revolution of the late Seventies with blend of rebellious behavior and groundbreaking material.

Lions Gate's new The Best of Gilda Radner is a compilation of most of the above characters, including some truly surreal asides – "Jewess Jeans" and the classic "Nerd Prom" sketch, among others – that runs 92 minutes and covers a wide array of Radner's material. Those who only know the above listed characters essayed by Radner might be pleasantly surprised while viewing this best-of collection – she's definitely got range and said range is on full display here; from an Emily Litella rant ("Never mind ...") to the poignant, haunting "La Dolce Gilda," Radner consistently delivered sketches that are still just as hilarious in 2005 as they were in 1975.

Released in conjunction with The Best of Dan Aykroyd and The Best of John Belushi as well as the documentary retrospective, Live From New York: The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live, this disc is a perfect primer to the hilarity that propelled Radner into the elite of American comedy.

The Video:

Much like the Aykroyd compilation, The Best of Gilda Radner is offered in a 1.33:1 fullscreen transfer that, admittedly, doesn't look too great – largely due to the vintage nature of the clips. While the Seventies-era TV show hasn't aged too terribly, this is most likely the best these segments will ever look.

Again, as with the Aykroyd compilation, much like the visual end of things, the audio options available here are restricted to Dolby 2.0 stereo, which is generally very clear and free of distortion. There are occasionally drop-outs or unintelligible portions but I feel that's inherent in the source material, rather than a fault of the disc.

In keeping with the other Lions Gate releases of "SNL" best-ofs (including the Aykroyd collection), this disc features the animated menu and "SNL" theme music, as well as a fairly considerable number of extras. Radner's original screen test, which runs three minutes, 25 seconds, is included, as is a photo gallery and Roy Blount Jr.'s late Seventies Rolling Stone article, "The Many Faces of Gilda."

Also on board are a pair of TV interviews – an 18 minute, 27 second appearance on "Tom Snyder" (which, in a surreal turn, features both interviewer and interviewee smoking prominently) and a six minute, 14 second clip from the "Today" show – and "Gilda Radner: An Inside Look," a 19-minute featurette which is basically a Radner-centric extension of the Live From New York: The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live documentary which boasts interviews with former cast members Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase and Laraine Newman, "SNL" mastermind Lorne Michaels, NBC executive Dick Ebersol, "SNL" guest hosts Lily Tomlin and Candice Bergen, among others.

A truly original comedienne from the glory days of "SNL," Gilda Radner helped create some of the most memorable characters in the show's history. With this compilation, those who remember and those unfamiliar can revel in the hysterical hijinks perpetrated by one of "The Beatles of comedy." Recommended.