Cheap Jonathan Winters on the Ledge (Video) (Peter Ferrara) Price

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Customer Reviews of Jonathan Winters on the Ledge

The premise is: Jonathan Winters sits up on the ledge of a 38-story building and taunts the members of a parade going on below. Then we jump to Jonathan's "father" (Berle sitting in front of a TV smoking a cigar) complaining about how much he disapproves of Jonathan's humor. We then see various flashbacks and skits which all feature Jonathan as some character or another.

I am a huge fan of Mr. Winters, but I simply didn't find this special very funny. I don't blame Jonathan for this because he really is a very talented man, and you can see him trying quite hard here. I do, however, blame the director (Peter Ferrara) for throwing a bunch of comedians and actors (some of who clearly have limited improvisational skills) into empty, unrelated, mish-mashed vignettes and presenting it as entertainment.

Winter's brand of extemporaneous humor is very delicate; if it's not presented properly, the viewer loses appreciation for the jokes. And if Winters doesn't have someone (or something) good to play off of, the result isn't always as funny as it could be. I get the distinct impression from watching this special that the director just threw Jonathan onto a few already-made sets, added some big-name stars, pointed the cameras, and strung together whatever they came up with.

All in all: Although it contains a few funny moments, there are much better Jonathan Winters videos available out there.

Semi-entertaining TV Special From the King of Improv
"Jonathan Winters On the Ledge" is a TV special Jonathan made in 1987. Completely improvised, this choppy, poorly directed special co-stars Robin Williams, Milton Berle, Mort Sahl, Michael Richards, Lee Meriwether, Phyllis Diller, Martin Mull, and (for what reason I'll probably never know) Susan Anton.

The special is simply a bunch of improvised skits that are supposed to be somehow connected, but I'm still trying to figure out how. Although some of the sketches contain a few laughs, most are simply unfunny and one wonders how they made it into the final cut. (If this was the funniest material they could gather for a special, I'd HATE to see what didn't make it in!) There's only so much entertainment value in watching actors and comedians who are clearly not used to improvisation bumble around in skits in which Winters is clearly the only one who knows what he's doing. Even skits with Robin Williams just seem to dry up and go nowhere after a minute or two.

The only one who makes it out of this thing with any dignity (besides Winters himself, who really deserved a much better production to showcase his amazing talents) is Martin Mull, who has some of the best lines in an early skit in which he plays a customer in Jonathan's antique shop. Of all the entertainers who appear in this special, Mull is the only one who really seemed capable of sharing a skit with Winters and actually creating a humerous scenario that moved forward and went somewhere.

Buy this video ONLY if your're a die-hard fan of Jonathan Winters. If you're looking for good Winters videos, check out Gone Fish'n, The Unkown Jonathan Winters On the Loose, or even It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.