In 1996, Dana Carvey could have taken his primetime sketch comedy show, The Dana Carvey Show, to any network he wanted. Carvey, then 40, was hot off an unprecedented run as one of the most popular cast members in Saturday Night Live history and the success of two Wayne’s World films. And he would soon be armed with what is now a who’s who of comedy names: Robert Smigel, Louis C.K., Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Spike Feresten, 30 Rock showrunner Robert Carlock, Delocated star Jon Glaser, and Community writer and supporting player Dino Stamatopoulos, among many others. Not to mention a guy who would go on to write some of the most abstract and beloved films in history—including Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind—Charlie Kaufman.
Unfortunately, Carvey chose ABC. Saddled with a timeslot following the Tim Allen family favorite Home Improvement, the raunchy first sketch—featuring Carvey as President Bill Clinton breastfeeding a litter of puppies—doomed the show to cancellation before it could air its eighth episode. But today, The Dana Carvey Show has found new life on the Internet—all eight episodes can be viewed on Hulu for free. Its legacy is that of a cultural oddity and comedy prognosticator, considering its exceptionally talented cast. It also foretold standouts on other shows. Consider: This was the birthplace of “The Ambiguously Gay Duo,” soon to be a mainstay on Saturday Night Live—only this was primetime. In this expansive oral history, 15 years later, the cast and writers—as well as devoted superfans like Jon Hamm and Jimmy Fallon—take GQ through the absolute genius and the absolute absurdity that was The Dana Carvey Show.
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Colbert: So then, three years later—I spent the next three years working on Exit 57, then that got canceled—I was out with Dave Koechner at a bar, and I gave him a drive home. And I dropped him off and he goes, “Hey, by the way, I heard Smigel is looking for you!” I said, “What do you mean, ‘Looking for me’?” So I called my agent and said, “I hear that Smigel is looking for me? I don’t know why it was hard for him to find me, I have an agent! Could you help him find me, please?” They weren’t coming to Chicago, but I could send a tape in. So I went to the Second City Main Stage and used the camera there and shot myself doing one script that they sent and then I did one old monologue of mine.
Colbert: I had a brand-new daughter at the time—she was not even two months old—and I held up my daughter in front of the camera and did a monologue as my daughter,and I did my voice through the baby. I would like that tape. I would like to know where that tape is to give my daughter. All I remember is that her diaper is so soiled that it was coming up the back of her onesie—which became part of the monologue. And I think that’s what actually got me a callback, was holding up my daughter and doing the monologue as her. You can ask Robert, but I think that actually tipped me over because nobody really knew who I was.
Smigel: I have to say, the tape didn’t do it for him. People thought it was cute, but it didn’t really show what was amazing about Stephen—and by then we were into the callbacks and lots of great people we were considering. I just had to tell Dana, “I know this guy, I’ve seen him on stage; he’s brilliant, let’s just bring him in to New York for a callback anyway.” And, of course, when he got to really audition in person, everything I’d said was instantly obvious to all of us.
Colbert: We all got flown to Los Angeles for another round. We went to someplace, you know, just a shitty comedy club like The Grin Room or something like that—The Chuckle Hut—and with a big terrible asphalt parking lot with a highway by it outside. Robert can correct me on this, but I think there were 75 people all doing their monologues and walking in brief circles to themselves, trying to remember what they are about to perform.
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Colbert: We all got flown to Los Angeles for another round. We went to someplace, you know, just a shitty comedy club like The Grin Room or something like that—The Chuckle Hut—and with a big terrible asphalt parking lot with a highway by it outside. Robert can correct me on this, but I think there were 75 people all doing their monologues and walking in brief circles to themselves, trying to remember what they are about to perform.
Colbert: I saw Carell there and I went, “Oh, man. Well, I’m not getting it. I’m not getting this job”—because Carell and I got called up for the same thing all of the time in Chicago.
Steve Carell, cast member: You know, my memory of Colbert was not that specific.
Colbert: And I thought, Well, he’s good and he’s here, so he’s going to get it and I’m not going to get it. And, evidently—and you can ask him this—but he said, “Oh, Colbert’s here, I’m not going to get this.” For the exact same reasons; we’re always up for the same things.
Carell: I do remember auditioning for Carvey and thinking, They’re definitely not taking both of us. I thought for sure that he would be the guy that they would pick. I think very highly of him; I’ve known him since ’88. He’s one of the most talented people I’ve ever met in a lot of different ways. He’s a great actor; he’s a brilliant singer; he’s a great writer—he can sort of do it all. He’s very much a renaissance man.
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Colbert: I found out that I got the gig and I was so excited when I found out, but my daughter was asleep—we were in our apartment in Chicago; my wife wasn’t there. I got the gig, hung up the phone, and I wanted to scream so badly that I put my daughter as far away in the corner as I could in our apartment, then went down the hall as far as I could near the bathroom, got in the shower, closed the door and yelled so I wouldn’t wake her up from her nap.
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Carell: I always thought Colbert was, if not the smartest guy in the room, one of the most talented. I just thought he was incredibly funny no matter what he did. He was somebody that I always sought out to do scenes with and wanted to work with. We always had fun doing scenes together.
Gold: When I first met Steve Carell I thought, Here’s a really sweet, funny guy. I wonder what he’s ever going to do with his career? I remember seeing Colbert—we were both going to an audition for something in Manhattan. I saw Steve Colbert just sort of like pathetically putting quarters into the meter and looking at his watch and running late to go to this audition. Again, I looked at him—and this was before The Daily Show—and I went, Ugh, this poor guy. And he’s so talented; I wish someone would give him a break.
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Jimmy Fallon, Live-Action “Gary,” “The Ambiguously Gay Duo”: I remember after watching it I thought in my head that it could be a funny movie. I was thinking like Justin Timberlake and me. And then, years later, Smigel is doing this huge budgeted short for Saturday Night Live. He sent me an email: “We’re doing the show, would you like to play Gary?” And I was like, “Oh my God, this is an honor.” I’ve always wanted to play a superhero, let alone one of “The Ambiguously Gay Duo.”
Smigel: Jesus Christ, Steve Carell flew across the country to do three lines in “Live-Action Ace and Gary.” He only did that out of the goodness of his heart.
Colbert: I knew I’d lose my part to someone with shoulders. It was really enjoyable playing Dr. Braino because I invented Braino—so it was a character that I invented. And I worked on all of Robert’s “Ambiguously Gay” [sketches] over the years and loved playing Ace and haven’t a jealous bone in my body to whoever wants to put on a cod piece.
Hamm: I can only respond to that with that I’m very happy to stand on Stephen Colbert’s non-existent shoulders.
Full Article: GQ.com
GQ Magazine: An Oral History of the Rise and Fall (and Rise) of “The Dana Carvey Show”.
Colbert: I had a brand-new daughter at the time—she was not even two months old—and I held up my daughter in front of the camera and did a monologue as my daughter,and I did my voice through the baby. I would like that tape. I would like to know where that tape is to give my daughter. All I remember is that her diaper is so soiled that it was coming up the back of her onesie—which became part of the monologue. And I think that’s what actually got me a callback, was holding up my daughter and doing the monologue as her. You can ask Robert, but I think that actually tipped me over because nobody really knew who I was.
Smigel: I have to say, the tape didn’t do it for him. People thought it was cute, but it didn’t really show what was amazing about Stephen—and by then we were into the callbacks and lots of great people we were considering. I just had to tell Dana, “I know this guy, I’ve seen him on stage; he’s brilliant, let’s just bring him in to New York for a callback anyway.” And, of course, when he got to really audition in person, everything I’d said was instantly obvious to all of us.
Colbert: We all got flown to Los Angeles for another round. We went to someplace, you know, just a shitty comedy club like The Grin Room or something like that—The Chuckle Hut—and with a big terrible asphalt parking lot with a highway by it outside. Robert can correct me on this, but I think there were 75 people all doing their monologues and walking in brief circles to themselves, trying to remember what they are about to perform.
———-
Colbert: We all got flown to Los Angeles for another round. We went to someplace, you know, just a shitty comedy club like The Grin Room or something like that—The Chuckle Hut—and with a big terrible asphalt parking lot with a highway by it outside. Robert can correct me on this, but I think there were 75 people all doing their monologues and walking in brief circles to themselves, trying to remember what they are about to perform.
Colbert: I saw Carell there and I went, “Oh, man. Well, I’m not getting it. I’m not getting this job”—because Carell and I got called up for the same thing all of the time in Chicago.
Steve Carell, cast member: You know, my memory of Colbert was not that specific.
Colbert: And I thought, Well, he’s good and he’s here, so he’s going to get it and I’m not going to get it. And, evidently—and you can ask him this—but he said, “Oh, Colbert’s here, I’m not going to get this.” For the exact same reasons; we’re always up for the same things.
Carell: I do remember auditioning for Carvey and thinking, They’re definitely not taking both of us. I thought for sure that he would be the guy that they would pick. I think very highly of him; I’ve known him since ’88. He’s one of the most talented people I’ve ever met in a lot of different ways. He’s a great actor; he’s a brilliant singer; he’s a great writer—he can sort of do it all. He’s very much a renaissance man.
———-
Colbert: I found out that I got the gig and I was so excited when I found out, but my daughter was asleep—we were in our apartment in Chicago; my wife wasn’t there. I got the gig, hung up the phone, and I wanted to scream so badly that I put my daughter as far away in the corner as I could in our apartment, then went down the hall as far as I could near the bathroom, got in the shower, closed the door and yelled so I wouldn’t wake her up from her nap.
———-
Carell: I always thought Colbert was, if not the smartest guy in the room, one of the most talented. I just thought he was incredibly funny no matter what he did. He was somebody that I always sought out to do scenes with and wanted to work with. We always had fun doing scenes together.
Gold: When I first met Steve Carell I thought, Here’s a really sweet, funny guy. I wonder what he’s ever going to do with his career? I remember seeing Colbert—we were both going to an audition for something in Manhattan. I saw Steve Colbert just sort of like pathetically putting quarters into the meter and looking at his watch and running late to go to this audition. Again, I looked at him—and this was before The Daily Show—and I went, Ugh, this poor guy. And he’s so talented; I wish someone would give him a break.
———-
Jimmy Fallon, Live-Action “Gary,” “The Ambiguously Gay Duo”: I remember after watching it I thought in my head that it could be a funny movie. I was thinking like Justin Timberlake and me. And then, years later, Smigel is doing this huge budgeted short for Saturday Night Live. He sent me an email: “We’re doing the show, would you like to play Gary?” And I was like, “Oh my God, this is an honor.” I’ve always wanted to play a superhero, let alone one of “The Ambiguously Gay Duo.”
Smigel: Jesus Christ, Steve Carell flew across the country to do three lines in “Live-Action Ace and Gary.” He only did that out of the goodness of his heart.
Colbert: I knew I’d lose my part to someone with shoulders. It was really enjoyable playing Dr. Braino because I invented Braino—so it was a character that I invented. And I worked on all of Robert’s “Ambiguously Gay” [sketches] over the years and loved playing Ace and haven’t a jealous bone in my body to whoever wants to put on a cod piece.
Hamm: I can only respond to that with that I’m very happy to stand on Stephen Colbert’s non-existent shoulders.
Full Article: GQ.com