The Comedians: 'Good Stuff!'

• Author: Rothenberg, Robert S.

Buena Vista Home Video / 50 minutes / $14.95

Many of the hottest comedians in America today received their first national exposure doing stand-up on "The Tonight Show." In this compendium of television debuts, a parade of fresh-faced youngsters who had their first moments of fame after a generous introduction by host Johnny Carson do a few minutes of their routines, hoping they will lead to even greater things. In many of these cases, the next decade would bring triumph.

In shows stretching from 1981 to 1991, such current household names as Jerry Seinfeld, Drew Carey, Roseanne (then still Barr, before becoming Arnold, and finally a single name proving sufficient) and Garry Shandling strive to win the audience over with their best material, nearly always giggling nervously along with the viewers. Routines are not overly sophisticated, for some reason almost universally focusing on jokes dealing with fat, as does Louis Anderson's self-deprecating humor. Watching, the tendency is not so much to roar with laughter as to whisper to oneself, "My God, were they young!" Seinfeld, in particular, looks...