When was Carvey? 1996? So that was in 1992 and I didn’t get hired for SNL that time. **Stephen Colbert, cast member: **Robert Smigel had seen me perform at Second City when he was one of the people scouting for Saturday Night Live. Another year we saw a Second City show and Steve Carell wasn’t there, but his understudy was. So I got to see Farley at Second City and got to see him hired by Lorne. Smigel: When I was a co-producer at SNL I would go in the summertime and scout people. I didn’t get that, but Robert had access to all of the tapes. Jon Glaser, writer: I was working at Second City at the time, this was in ’95, and I had auditioned for Saturday Night Live that summer. The other person who probably made me laugh the hardest from the SNL auditions was Jon Glaser. ![]() I can just imagine Lorne Michaels cringing at the Ralph Kramden bit. I guess part of what made me laugh so hard about both of these auditions is how repellent they might have been to the SNL people watching. That was probably the hardest I laughed at anyone’s audition of anything. Smigel: That was his audition, Ralph Kramden taking a dump with a combination of relief and anxiety. **Bill Chott, cast member: **I used to do an impression of Jackie Gleason taking a difficult shit and it used to bring the house down at Second City. We want you to do what you do." At the time, I think ABC sort of hoped I would be really like Carol Burnett. I think that ABC sincerely wooed us and threw lots of money at us saying, "No, no. **Carvey: **There was confusion over who and what I am as a performer. It’s way too funny and specific and kind of obtuse for a mass audience to get. Then the 2011 version of me goes, No it isn’t, it’s on ABC in primetime, and there’s no way it’s going to find an audience. Dana had just come off of SNL and I remember thinking, Oh, this is going to be awesome. **Jon Hamm, Live-Action "Ace," "The Ambiguously Gay Duo": **I’m such a nerd about that stuff. And Disney did buy ABC after we made the deal, which had even more impetus to go more conservative. Once we made that choice, our fate was sealed in not being a long running show. **Carvey: **I really ended up being the only one who sort of thought that we should do it on cable. And ABC was the most aggressive pursuer they were a very hot network and they also promised us a prime timeslot. **Smigel: **One of the biggest guaranteed offers was from CBS, but they were in the basement at the time. 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. Consider: This was the birthplace of "The Ambiguously Gay Duo," soon to be a mainstay on Saturday Night Live-only this was primetime. ![]() It also foretold standouts on other shows. Its legacy is that of a cultural oddity and comedy prognosticator, considering its exceptionally talented cast. ![]() But today, The Dana Carvey Show has found new life on the Internet-all eight episodes can be viewed on Hulu for free. 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. 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. 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. 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. In 1996, Dana Carvey could have taken his primetime sketch comedy show, The Dana Carvey Show, to any network he wanted.
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