The disc opens with a Mick Jagger imitation that's right out of Mike Myers' bag of tricks. Even so, it's still funny, and Jagger seems to be genuinely enjoying himself, as the sketch becomes a game of oneupsmanship. They keep up with each other, gesture for gesture, facial expression for facial expression. Oddly, the sketch doesn't end with the usual "Live from New York...," despite it opening the disc.

A "Celebrity Jeopardy" sketch follows, with Fallon as Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek, Ben Stiller as Tom Cruise and Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery. While Ferrell and Hammond are their usual genius selves, and Stiller is unbelievably over the top as Cruise, Fallon does a dead-on Sandler, with the mannerisms and voices down flat, and a Chanukah Song parody to boot. It's a simple idea that never fails. Why they haven't put out a "Best of Celebrity Jeopardy" yet is beyond me, as I would be first in line to buy it.

"Jarrett's Room" is one of my least favorite sketches in the history of "SNL," simply because the plane of stupidity it exists on is beyond any comprehension. Though it is intended to be a parody of how lame college students can be, it really doesn't work as anything but a lame version of "Wayne's World." This time, Sean William Scott stops by for the "Freshman Face Book" awards. The jokes are old and weak, just like the concept. Further proof that Fallon couldn't create characters.

"The Barry Gibb Talk Show" is another attempt to utilize Fallon's musical ability, this time in a truly bizarre concept. A completely mental Barry Gibb is flanked by his brother Robin, as portrayed by Justin Timberlake, who has a hard time keeping it together, next to Fallon, the ultimate crack-up. Timberland shows some serious comedy chops in being able to recover extremely quick. I may have missed Gibb's episode of "Behind the Music," but I'm not exactly sure where this caricature came from. It's not exactly funny, but it has to be watched.

A montage of Fallon's imitations follows, including Carson Daly, Pat O'Brien, Ryan Seacrest, (a bad sounding) Howard Stern, Enrique Iglesias, (a bad looking) Chris Rock, Larry King, Jerry Seinfeld (with the real Seinfeld), John Mayer, Hilary Swank, Gilbert Gottfried, Robin Williams, Sting, Richard Simmons, Steve Van Zandt and William Hung. Most are too short to really enjoy, but the concepts are funny.

An ultra-annoying parody of morning-zoo DJs is a great teaming of Fallon and Ben Affleck. Affleck is perfect as Dirty Dan, a deep-voiced maniac with a crew of characters he voices himself, including "Sherlock Homo," and Fallon keeps pace as Joey Mack, a similarly goofy morning man. That the duo is able to keep their voices and characters straight through their "voice off" is impressive as all hell, but as expected, a few seconds later, Fallon starts laughing.

Once again highlighting Fallon's lack of characters, a selection of Weekend Update segments is up next, including a very funny bit with Paris Hilton and stunning liplock with Ian "Maggie Smith" McKellan that knocked Fallon for a loop. It's followed by the dreaded Sully and Denise sketch I knew was coming. Though Affleck's performance as Donny Bartalotti is a trip, the Boston teens are wicked annoying. Probably Fallon's best-known character, he's also one of the least entertaining.

A made-up montage of Fallon singing holiday songs is actually quite good, if only because of the amount of effort put into it. Fallon is shown singing holiday songs as far back as 1958, parodying Buddy Holly, Wham!-era George Michael and eventually Usher. It's goofy and silly, but still fun. The same can be said for the next sketch as well, which features Janet Jackson in a bit that has fun with accents and dirty words. If you've seen Johnny Dangerously and remember Roman Moronie, you have the idea. Jackson has trouble keeping it together, as everyone has to be VERY careful not to switch their words around. It's a fine line that they risk falling over continuously. It's the rare comedy sketch with drama, as you wait for the screw-up, just after the Super Bowl fiasco.

On the case, the title of the next sketch is "A Christmas Treat for All," but that doesn't exactly explain what's going on. Fallon, Horatio Sanz. Chris Kattan and Tracy Morgan are a festively-dressed quartet performing a just stupid song. It's not funny, but I dare you not to watch. The same can't be said for "The Leatherman," a sound effect-laden sketch with Britney Spears and a special guest. The joke is that Fallon is dressed all in leather, and thus makes noises as he moves. That's the whole joke. A one-note joke inspires the next bit as well, which is a St. Patrick's Day message from an inebriated Van Morrison.

Jennifer Aniston is the star for Fallon's second-most-popular character, Nick Burns, Your Company's Computer Guy. As Burns, Fallon insults people with computer problems while fixing them. The laughs are almost of the pity type, as the jokes are Dilbert taken to an even geekier level. The back end of this DVD continues to slide as the Bloater Brothers make an appearance. Fallon and Chris Parnell are a couple of lame guys who can't stop cracking one-liners, despite being pulled over by the police for speeding. Even in the face of threats of jail they can't stop, despite themselves.

The music moments aren't done yet though, as a Grease-like musical montage set in the cast's locker room casts Fallon and Tina Fey in the roles of Danny and Sandy. Unfortunately, it continues the trend toward unfunny sketches that dominates the end of this disc. It's all capped off by a previously-cut Weekend Update that has more lead-in than content.

The DVD
Lion's Gate has released "SNL: The Best of Jimmy Fallon" on one DVD, packaged in a standard keepcase without an insert. This disc breaks with the recent style of "SNL" Best-of DVDs, dropping the city-scene/film-strip design for a more abstract animated menu style with images of Fallon's characters. The menus are full-frame, with a play-all feature, scene selections, extras and credits. Instead of using stills for the scene selections, text titles describe the sketches.

The Quality
Presented in full-screen, the video is better than it ever looked on TV, though there is some odd pixelation in backgrounds occasionally. Some grain and edge enhancement is obvious, along with some bleeding on vibrant colors like bright red. The audio, done in Dolby 2.0, is exactly what's need for this special, reproducing the TV presentation.

The Extras
In a first for this series, Fallon does an audio commentary with "SNL" staffers Mike Shoemaker and Steve Higgins. For the most part, the trio talks about what went into writing sketches, trades gossip and talks about their experiences on the show. There's a running joke about people in the future watching the DVD and not getting the references, while they do sometimes fall into the "they're great" trap. A special guest joins in later on to add some more insight. Interestingly, the "The Leatherman" and "Nick Burns" sketches have no commentary, a situation introduced by Fallon. It explains a lot about how these bad sketches made its way onto this disc.

A recent addition to the series' extras is the star's audition tape, which is a fantastic extra, as it shows the comedian before they became big, and enables you to see how exactly they convinced "SNL" to hire them. Fallon's tape starts off really strong with a series of celebrity impersonations at a walkathon, before spiraling down into a series of lame characters that even Fallon doesn't seem to like. He saves it with his trademark musical imitations, which are also quite good. One comes away thinking that "SNL" just wanted to add a guitarist to replace Adam Sandler, and conveniently, Fallon could imitate Sandler as well.

Up next is a camera test for Fallon's turn at "Weekend Update," which gives a look at a discarded set concept and Fallon's complete inability to deliver headline. As a look behind the scenes, its worth checking out, but boy, is it a 6-minute train wreck as far as comedy goes. More enjoyable is the video for "Idiot Boyfriend," from Fallon's comedy album. Featuring Zooey Deschannel, it's a fun clip for a song that's pretty funny. Of course, anything with Deschannel dressed up 80s-style is a good time and the Prince imitation is just ridiculous. There's more music in a Beatles-esque performance of "Road Rage" from "Last Call with Carson Daly," which is a cute concept and an OK song. Rounding out the bonus clips is an "SNL" dress-sketch performance of another song from "The Bathroom Wall," "Drinkin' in the Woods." With the rest of the cast boozing it up behind him as the choir, Fallon sings the song rather straight-forwardly. The song is good, but rather un-"SNL" in execution.

The Bottom Line
Though there are some very funny sketches on this DVD, it stands as proof that Fallon's time on the show was somewhat overrated, and is remembered more for his hilarious mistakes and crack-ups than comedy. As this disc only features sketches that star Fallon, there's so much of his work left out, including the great Blue Oyster Cult bit and his role in Chris Kattan's Antonio Banderas sketches. Fallon comes off better as a comedic musician or imitator than a comedic actor, but for the most part, this is an entertaining disc with the largest collection of extras yet on an "SNL" DVD.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.