Heard the one about Steve Martin's TV box set?

Steve Martin during an appearance on The Muppet Show

For those whose first experience of Steve Martin was in Father Of The Bride, his standing as America's biggest stand-up in the late 1970s (he quit live stage comedy abruptly), may seem hard to fathom.

But the release of a new collection of his TV comedy work (The Television Stuff) ought to serve as an explainer.

The collection takes in a hardy seven-hours of vintage and long-forgotten stand-up specials, one-offs produced by Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels, speeches and music videos.

This collection of classic Martin gold lies somewhat in contrast to a similar project from one of the UK's top comics – Peter Kay – who irritated fans in 2008 with the release of a £20, 80-minute DVD, Peter Kay's Special Kay which featured a similar run of cameos, chat show appearances and other bits of Kay-phemera. Which his loyal fanbase would have lapped up, were it not for the fact that a number of the clips – including adverts for John Smiths beer – had appeared on previous Kay DVDs.

The people – well, Amazon reviewers – spoke: "There is NO WAY I can condone anyone wasting their money on this."