Steve Martin–philes can rejoice, as today sees the release of the three-disc DVD set, Steve Martin: The Television Stuff, a complete collection of his long-lost late-seventies and early-eighties TV specials as well as some classic late-night appearances on The Tonight Show (The Great Flydini!), David Letterman’s show, and Saturday Night Live. The five specials contain live stand-up from his Wild and Crazy Guy era, as well as sketches that have until now been seen only in incomplete YouTube clips taken off old VHS tapes with faulty tracking; the set includes such classics as “Olympic Diving Finals” (in which he attempts the high-difficulty move of attempting to catch a beach ball while jumping off the diving board), “Drunk Steam-Roller Driver,” and many others, with guest appearances from SNL cronies John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Bill Murray.
In this clip from his 1981 special, Steve Martin’s Best Show Ever, Steve is unveiled as the Elephant Guy, who has slightly more literal deformities than the John Merrick of the 1980 movie and is resistant to Aykroyd’s attempt to welcome him into society.
