Here's a clip of Dana Carvey on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night, in which he debuts the Jimmy Fallon impression he's been working on lately at the very end. If that isn't enough for you impression fanatics, Carvey and Fallon also do Paul McCartney, Jay Leno, and Adam Sandler impressions prior to Carvey's Fallon impression and Carvey did his Lorne Michaels impression in the first part of the interview, which you can watch below:
The Wayne's World gang is getting back together. But don't get too excited, it's just to talk about the movie, not to make another one. THR reports that Wayne's World producer Lorne Michaels will host a reunion panel at LA's Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences following a screening of the film on April 23rd. Joining him will be stars Mike Myers and Dana Carvey and director Penelope Spheeris. Spheeris had a falling out with Myers after he banned her from directing the sequel for ignoring his editing suggestions, but everything is patched up now. Spheeris tells THR, "We're all getting too old to be pissed. Wayne's [...]
One of the most popular SNL cast members of all time, Dana Carvey became one of only three people to win an Emmy for his tenure on the show in 1993 (joining Chevy Chase and Gilda Radner, who received the award in 1976 and 1978, respectively). Carvey was at the forefront of an eclectic group of cast members and writers (including Phil Hartman, Mike Myers, Conan O’Brien, Greg Daniels, Bob Odenkirk, and Sen. Al Franken, amongst others) who saved the show from its most tumultuous decade ever – the 1980s – and rang in what was then the most fertile period in SNL’s history since its 70s Glory Era. [...]
Dana Carvey is in the running to replace Regis Philbin on Live! With Regis and Kelly. I assume his audition was just a full-on Regis impression? I guess if he gets it, they'd call the show Live! With Dana and Kelly, which sounds unbearably weird and unfamiliar. Then again, remember when it was Regis and Kathie Lee and Kelly was the name that sounded weird? The world just never stops changing.
Since its short run 15 years ago, quite a bit of myth and mystique has developed around the Dana Carvey Show. For years the show has been lamented as a work of comedic genius shot down before it could find an audience or establish itself. Because only seven episodes of the show ever aired, I speculate that much of this mythmaking has been based upon the show's impressive cast and writing staff, rather than the show itself. Some of the most respected comedy minds in the world can be found in the show's credits, including Robert Smigel, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle, Charlie Kaufman, and Dino [...]
Mike Myers and Dana Carvey reunited for a Wayne's World panel in LA this week, with Lorne Michaels and Rob Lowe also joining them, and here's video of that very panel for those of us who weren't there in case you want to see it or have to lie about being there as an alibi.
Here's Dana Carvey on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night, playing guitar and singing "The Ballad of Jay Leno" for the host. Just don't clap along with him. I know it's only video, but it might still throw him off.
When you're Dana Carvey and you go on Conan immediately after Will Ferrell announces an Anchorman 2 in character, there's really only one thing you can do: announce Wayne's World 3 (complete with tepid, middle-aged schwing) and get us all atwitter for the half second before we realize you're joking, and then win us back with your George Bush Sr. and Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions. Who could stay mad at that guy? (Carvey, I mean, not Schwarzenegger. Lots of people could stay mad at him, I bet.)
Ever since the first Wayne's World movie became a surprise hit, making $183 million from of a scant $20 million budget, releasing a sea of catchphrases into the public consciousness and turning Mike Myers and Dana Carvey into actors in high demand, Lorne Michaels and his producing partners have been searching for the next big SNL movie. In the three years that followed, Hollywood released a string of SNL spin-offs that failed to reach Wayne's World's level of success, including Coneheads, It's Pat, Stuart Saves His Family, and a second Wayne's World film. In 1995, because of the underperformance of these titles and SNL hitting a creative slump, several [...]
Dana Carvey was on Fallon last night, and he talked a bit about what to expect. In short: lots of his old characters. I'd say that a Church Lady sketch is pretty much guaranteed, and I would also put good money on a guest appearance by Mike Meyers for a Wayne's World sketch. It should be great, really; many of Carvey's characters lost a bit of their sheen when he was on the show thanks to constant repetition, but we're far enough away from that now that it'll be fun and fresh to see them again.
The Academy of Arts & Sciences held a Wayne's World reunion panel following a screening of the movie last night in LA, with stars Mike Myers and Dana Carvey present to celebrate the film's 21st anniversary. Joining Myers and Carvey at the panel were Wayne's World villain Rob Lowe, director Penelope Spheeris, producer (and Academy president) Hawk Koch, and producer Lorne Michaels. Tickets to the event sold out in 90 seconds.
A lot of news outlets have been incorrectly reporting that Myers and Carvey ended a longstanding feud to appear at the panel together last night, but that's not really the case. Things have been [...]
Saturday Night Live has been home to over a hundred cast members throughout the past 36 years. In our column Saturday Night’s Children, we present the history, talent, and best sketches of one SNL cast member each week for your viewing, learning, and laughing pleasure.
From the prissy and repressed Church Lady to the schwinging cable access sidekick Garth Algar, Dana Carvey remains one of SNL's all-time fan favorites for his mimicry mastery with the definitive George Bush Sr. and transforming the presidential spoof into the essential facet to SNL it is today. Thanks to versatility and chemistry with his cast mates, Carvey helped save SNL after a period [...]
Jason Zinoman's latest comedy column takes issue with Fred Armisen's Obama impersonation, which he describes as the culmination of an SNL trend towards detailed accuracy and away from bold comic choices. As he points out, "accuracy is not insight," and with a president without any particularly weird habits, it can seem like Armisen is barely even doing an impersonation at all. Zinoman suggests studying up on Dana Carvey's George Bush, which took another dull-sounding president in "a more fanciful, provocative direction." Why not! It does looks tough to find a way to make fun of the infinitely reasonable Obama, but better to strike out on a bizarre [...]
How do you discuss a show that has run for so many years and been so many different things to its viewing audience, alternately gut-bustingly funny and barely watchable, often within the same episode? Yesterday's SNL special on Oprah did it's best to pay homage to the show, and I think they did an admirable job. The most heart-rending moment of the show came when Tracy Morgan thanked Chevy Chase and Jane Curtin for being on the original cast. Get prepared to tell your coworkers you have something in your eye. "I just want to thank you two. I remember my father coming from Vietnam and he wasn't…he [...]
