Dana Carvey

First impressions with S a t u r d a y N i g h t L i v e

BACK ON THE SCREEN: Freddie Prince Jr and Dana Carvey will host the new USA Network show First

Thirty years ago, Touchstone Pictures gathered together 50 print journalists to promote the studio’s upcoming film Tough Guys ( 1986), an action comedy about two elderly, freshly paroled gangsters who hijack a train. Touchstone offered up the legendary tough guys themselves, Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, as well as director Jeff Kanew and actors Charles Durning and Eli Wallach. Everyone also talked to another guy, a veritable kid compared to his co- stars, introduced by the publicists as a comic who was about to join the cast of Saturday Night Live.

His name was Dana Carvey. Of course, Carvey soon exploded onto the scene on Saturday Night Live, where he impersonated such figures as President George H Wbush and Ross Perot, and created a number of indelible characters, including the Church Lady, Hans of Hans and Franz, and also Garth in the Wayne’s World sketches.

Now 60, Carvey recalled that Tough Guys experience during a recent conversation.

“Just like high school, it feels like it’s yesterday and 100 years ago,” Carvey said. “Those are indelible things, Tough Guys and SNL. The fact I got cast to be the sidekick with Burt and Kirk was mind- blowing. I don’t even know if there are equivalent movie stars now. Kirk and Burt, they were so iconic, and that was a huge thrill.”

Speaking by telephone from his home in Los Angeles, Carvey was gracious, self- deprecating and honest as he discussed his life, his career and the ups and downs of both.

His current project, First Impressions, has the veteran comic jazzed. The half- hour competition series that pits amateur impressionists against one another in a quest for $ 10,000 premiered on USA Network on May 10. Freddie Prinze Jr hosts, while Carvey serves as the expert in residence. For each episode, Carvey will be joined by a celebrity cheerleader/ judge, among them Steve Carell, Jay Leno and Jon Lovitz.

Carvey toyed with creating a First Impressionsstyle show himself, he said, and “even made a little fake trailer,” because he strongly believed that there should be a competition show for impressionists. He ultimately decided that it would be “too niche” to do a full- blown programme a la The Voice or American Idol.

Then producers Jeff Gaspin and David Garfinkle approached him with First Impressions, which would be “bite- sized” and “casual,” taking place in a modest space with a more intimate audience. Still, Carvey had concerns.

“I said I didn’t want to be a judge, that’s not my style,” he recalled, “and they said OK. Then I said, ‘ Can I have someone with me?’ They just kept saying yes to everything. So it became this fun little show.

“I really like hearing people do impressions,” Carvey said. “I’m glad the show is on. There’s a lot of talented people out there and they’re mostly online. You just see a kid in his bedroom doing a perfect Tom Cruise. It’s like, ‘ What?’

“The next thing I know, USA wanted to do six episodes,” he continued. “So it all came together while I was busy making other plans, as John Lennon would say. It’s been nice to give these people a platform on television.” veteran comedian : 1 d c y s h chu h L y h Live 2 m k my s ( left) d c y s W y Wayne’s World 2 3 i h 2002 y Master of Disguise