Hulu finally posts something I've wanted to rewatch for so long: the 1996
Dana Carvey Show premiere, which features the controversial Clinton sketch that basically killed the series in its opening minutes. (Carvey's multiple prosthetic boobs and the hilariously oblivious animal actors are Robert Smigel trademarks that would later resurface in Smigel's Triumph bits on
Conan.) The Clinton sketch is left intact, but the Taco Bell-bashing musical number has been deleted, perhaps due to pressure from some corporate entity (Could it be... PepsiCo? Pepsi-owned properties like Taco Bell and Mountain Dew agreed to take turns sponsoring episodes of
The Dana Carvey Show, not realizing that Carvey's writers would bite the corporate hands that fed them).
I watched
The Dana Carvey Show in college and thought the series' funniest bit was "The Ambiguously Gay Duo," which
resurfaced the following season on SNL. Stephen "Ace" Colbert and Steve "Gary" Carell were part of the cast and were members of the now-legendary writing staff, which also included Smigel, Louis C.K., Charlie Kaufman (the
Adaptation and
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind screenwriter) and
Conan staffers Jon Glaser and Dino Stamatopoulos. (The show is also available for
Netflix subscribers at the site's PC-only "Watch Now" feature.)
Jesse Thorn remembers The Dana Carvey Show. [
The Sound of Young America]
The Dana Carvey Show gets graded, along with several other sketch comedy shows. [
The High Hat]
