‘You can’t fake it. You have to be funny.’
Dana Carvey and David Spade, the former cast members turned podcast hosts, look back on their favorite ‘SNL’ memories, the show’s long history, and more
When “Saturday Night Live” kicked off season 12 on Oct. 11, 1986, it didn’t take long for then-newcomer Dana Carvey to make his mark on the show, turning in a debut episode that few who’ve walked the halls of Studio 8H have been able to match since.
Making the leap from doing stand-up just months before at a California pizza parlor for an audience of four to performing on live television for millions of viewers, Carvey was instantly thrust into the limelight. Despite his lack of sketch comedy experience, he ended up in four segments in his first episode, which featured a memorable cold open by Madonna in which she apologized for the show’s widely-panned previous season.
While it may take a new cast member a year or two to develop a popular sketch or character, Carvey, who’s tenure on the show lasted until season 18 in 1993, hit it out of the park that first night with instant classics like his rendition of “Chopping broccoli” and the unforgettable debut of Church Lady.
“i was so freaking nervous, but i had done the Church Lady character just as myself, just a little bit in my act,” Carvey told the Globe in an interview over Zoom last month. “And then when i said, ‘Well, isn’t that special?’ and i got just a roaring laugh, that just took me way down, like,
‘Oh, damn.’ ”
“Also, talk about luck,” he added. “if you do a talk show where Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks are going to come on, there’s a lot of religious scandals that year . . . so the whole thing was just explosive. i’m just there watching in awe and we’re all mixing together as us. incredible.”
Carvey gets to take trips down memory lane a lot these days thanks to the “fly on the Wall” podcast for Audacy that he co-hosts with fellow “SNL” alum David Spade. the podcast features interviews with cast members past and present, former writers and guest stars on the show, and even comics who got to audition but fell short of their “SNL” dreams. After launching “fly on the Wall” in 2022, Carvey and Spade recently expanded with another podcast called “Superfly,” where they dissect the latest pop culture news and current events.
Whether they’re talking to newer cast members like Mikey Day, fan-favorites like Rachel Dratch, or legends like Dan Aykroyd, Carvey and Spade say there’s a camaraderie that “SNL” players across generations feel, an innate connection that’s fostered from their shared experiences doing a live show every weekend.
“When football players retire and they say, ‘i miss the locker room,’ it’s kind of like that,” Spade said. “You miss going into, not battle, but a kind of scary situation live on TV with people you have to rely on.”
Speaking with other comics on the podcast about their “SNL” memories is often “intense,” Carvey said.
“It’s a seminal experience in your career,” he said. “We’ve discovered that everyone has a commonality. they all have a Lorne [Michaels] story. they all know the drill.”
“Some people thought they left too soon,” he added. “We try to keep it light and funny, but people have regrets.”
“Not everyone’s fully satisfied when they’re finished,” Spade said.
Spade, who joined “SNL” in 1990 and left after five seasons, started out as a featured player before working his way up to the main cast. the comedian admits that working on the show, especially as a newcomer, can feel frustrating at times.
“One week you’re in five sketches killing it, the next week you’re in nothing,” Spade said. “there’s times when you think, ‘it’s not really fair here.’ And then my dad goes, ‘Nobody said it was fair.’ that’s a good thing to remember because you just go in going, ‘i’ll do my best.’ ”
Spade noted that he was in the “enviable and unenviable position” of joining the ranks of “SNL” alongside other up-and-coming stars, including Adam Sandler, Chris farley, and Rob Schneider, while also rubbing shoulders with established players like Carvey and Mike Myers.
“i mean, how do you stand out there?” Spade said. “So just to get some scraps, you’re happy.”
Since Spade didn’t have Carvey’s “impression chops” or musical talent to rely on, he took inspiration from former cast member bill Murray for his more laidback approach to performing on “SNL.”
in order to be a good colleague on the set of “SNL,” it helps to have some humility, according to Spade and Carvey. A good cast member is usually someone “who can handle a tinge of jealousy, and sometimes more than a tinge,” Spade said.
“being able to write” is important as well, according to Carvey, but so are good fortune and being versatile.
“there is whimsy to it,” Carvey said. “for me in particular, i was not a political impressionist as a standup. i don’t even think i had a [Ronald] Reagan. i did a Jimmy Carter . . . and then, oh, you’ll do George bush Sr.”
“So all of a sudden i’m a political impressionist,” he added. “i had to learn how to make that character funny.”
While Carvey quickly found his lanes on the show, it took Spade more time to feel (somewhat) at home on set, noting that it wasn’t until his turn in 1992 as Dick Clark’s dismissive receptionist in a sketch with Roseanne barr.
“that got moved up from the back of the show to the front of the show, and i was newer and i hadn’t really done my own sketches,” Spade said. “it was a sketch that wasn’t based on just jokes, it was sort of an idea.”
“When it worked and they got it, and then it did great when they moved it up, that was more rare for me than all the people around me,” he added. “that made me just work harder, but it by no means catapulted me. it was just like, ‘i just bought myself another 10 shows before i get fired.’ Everyone’s always sort of thinking they’re getting fired. it’s just in the air.”
As “SNL” prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary next season, Carvey and Spade look back on all the iterations of the show fondly and have a hard time picking an all-time favorite cast member. However, they do agree that the original cast is in a league of its own.
they “set the blueprint” for what the show would become, Spade said. “Everyone on there was doing something that really just floored us.”
through the years on the show, “there’s just always someone who stands out,” he added. “there’s Will ferrell, there’s Adam [Sandler], there’s Aykroyd, there’s kristen Wiig. there’s so many that do a great job i wouldn’t know where to start.”
Overall, though, succeeding on the show and leaving an impression on the audience comes down to one thing: getting laughs.
“You can’t fake it. You have to be funny,” Carvey said. “You generally have to be able to create for yourself. And that’s why it’s such a badge of honor when you’re a vet from that show, because you have to be the real deal.”
While there are new faces calling Studio 8H home these days, in many ways, “SNL” really hasn’t changed much over the years.
“it’s remarkably stayed the same,” Carvey said. “thanks to Lorne Michaels, he didn’t change anything. it’s exactly the same show and the same methodology.”
“it’s like a sporting event. it’s rock ‘n’ roll. it’s New York at 11:30,” he added. “it’s crazy that it’s still going and it’s the same!”