DVD Review
“The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder: Punk & New Wave”
(Shout Factory)
$29.98
Grade: B-
By Steven Rosen
(This first ran in 2006)
Tom Snyder was one heck of a strange television talk-show
host. His questions to guests frequently turned into long-winded monologues and
he loved nothing more than to try to crack up his (off-camera) crew with adlibs
and in-jokes. Today, he comes across as preening – especially when his dark
eyebrows and longish hair are framed in tight close-up.
But on his NBC
late-night show, broadcast from 1973-1982, he did often let punks and New
Wavers play and then talk freely. This two-disc set makes you fast-forward
through entire programs just to get to the musicians, but it’s worth it. Elvis
Costello is a delightful charmer, Iggy Pop proves to be both an intellectual
and a crazed wild man – simultaneously.
The late Wendy O. Williams of the
Plasmatics makes terrible music but is sexy and funny. Patti Smith, who talks
but doesn’t sing, poignantly, shyly discusses her vulnerabilities and views
on life and death. One can watch Snyder falling in love with her on-screen.
Only
a sneering, insulting John Lydon promoting his P.I.L. is a jerk – but then,
you’d expect that of him.
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