EPIC ‘FAIL’
Documentary recalls controversial ‘Carvey Show’
DANA Carvey’s sketchcomedy show had some of the best comic minds of its generation, outrageous humor, a primetime network platform and corporate sponsorship.
So what could possibly go wrong? Well, just about everything. “Too Funny to Fail,” a new Hulu documentary premiering Saturday, recounts the (short-lived) history of “The Dana Carvey Show,” which aired for seven tumultuous weeks on ABC in 1996 and has since attained cult status — not only for its edgy, ribald skits but for its talent roster: popular host Carvey, coming off a memorable run on “Saturday Night Live,” and writers/performers including then-unknowns Stephen Colbert, Robert Smigel, Louis CK, Steve Carell and Charlie Kaufman.
“What comes to mind is anarchy,” says Carvey, 62 (who’s also interviewed for Josh Greenbaum’s documentary along with Colbert, Smigel, Carell and Louis CK.) “It was comedy terror, basically, but we didn’t know it.”
“The Dana Carvey Show” premiered on March 12, 1996 directly after Tim Allen’s hit sitcom “Home Improvement” and, in a 1950s TV throwback, was sponsored by Taco Bell. But there was already cause for concern. ABC had just been bought by family-friendly Disney, which didn’t appreciate the show’s opening sketch: Carvey as President Bill Clinton who, after putting wife Hillary “under house arrest” and with “the employment of estrogen hormonal therapy” breastfeeds a baby, puppies and a kitten — then bends over to reveal a surgically attached hen’s butt to provide “presidential warmth to hatching eggs.” Viewers fled. ABC blanched. Taco Bell yanked its sponsorship. (Sponsors changed almost weekly; the show’s final sponsor was Szechuan Dynasty, the cast/crew’s favorite midtown restaurant.)
“We banked that [Clinton] sketch a month before we used it and then they asked us to shorten it down,” Carvey says. “Suddenly we had more closeups of his fake prosthetic teets. We were painted as a crude, stupid show, which I did not blame people for [thinking] after seeing that sketch. They thought, ‘Oh, it’s just gonna be nasty and blue and kind of stupid.’
“But we had sketches like ‘Skinheads from Maine’ and ‘Grandma the Clown’ that were intensely weird and cool. Even now it’s a sensibility I enjoy.” One sketch focused on a TV screen airing the “Soup Nazi” episode from “Seinfeld” (which aired on rival NBC — ABC was not amused); in another, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw (Carvey) tapes increasingly bizarre takes on the death of (the very-much-alive) Gerald Ford in case he’s off when that day comes (example: “Gerald Ford was eaten by wolves. He was delicious.”). Smigel’s “Ambiguously Gay Duo” made their first appear- ance; Carvey’s “Church Lady” from “SNL” reappeared (calling Princess Diana a “slut”).
ABC finally pulled the plug after seven episodes. [Hulu is streaming all eight episodes of “The Dana Carvey Show,” including the episode that never aired.]
“We were young and tin-eared, naive and ambitious,” says Carvey. “The fact [the show] existed was madness, and the fact it wasn’t cancelled by Disney after one show is amazing. I’m just glad it exists and [that] it’s funny. Some college nerd who wants to go into comedy 50 years from now may just look it up.”