The growing availability of old TV shows through DVDs and streaming has allowed an unprecedented opportunity for us to indulge in nostalgia. We start watching and suddenly a flood of memories come back with astonishing clarity, no matter how long ago we watched the original. When I told my dad that Hulu now had the complete series of
The Adventures of Robin Hood, which began in 1955, he sang the whole theme song. If you mention
Duck Tales to anyone who grew up in the 1980's, they will probably be pissed since the mere mention of the cartoon ensures the theme song will be stuck in their heads for days. My generation on up benefited from VCRs, which allowed us to watch our favorite shows over and over again and memorize entire shows. Sometimes I can tell exactly which episodes I had recorded on tape because when I watch them, I can recite the dialogue right along with the show. This was the case with at least two episodes of a short-lived vehicle for a
Saturday Night Live star.
Even though I was not old enough to watch it live, as a kid I loved the Wayne's World sketches on SNL. Much of the jokes probably went over my head, but that didn't faze me. (When Wayne said that a woman was so hot she could "give a dog a bone," I thought that meant the woman was very nice and always gave treats to puppies she met.) I owned the Wayne's World book, now available used on Amazon for one cent. Even today the movies remain my favorite comedies. So in 5th grade, when I found out that Garth was getting his own TV show, it was PARTY TIME! EXCELLENT!
The Dana Carvey Show is best viewed as a historical curiosity. It was a sketch comedy show that lasted eight episodes, only seven of which aired. It had a different sponsor every week, which it would mercilessly lampoon. The eponymous star quickly faded, while the rest of the burgeoning cast and crew went on to much bigger and better things. They included writers Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Louis C. K., and Dino Stamatopoulos (Moral Orel, and currently appearing as Starburns on Community). It's not even necessary to update you on how Steve Carrell and Stephen Colbert are doing.
The show definitely had an impressive pedigree, but is it funny? The parts that were REALLY funny stuck with me in a way that few other live-action comedy shows have. This show is the reason that whenever anyone mentions Mountain Dew, I respond, "Mountain Dew--it looks EXACTLY like liquid sunshine." It's the reason that when a high school acquaintance of mine submitted a pitch to Oprah's talk show contest an idea for a show that just about helping people "feel good again," I immediately thought of the Gentle News Network with the 11 O'Clock News That's Easy to Handle. This was a sketch in which news anchors deliver news of the day in soothing voices, holding baby animals and reenacting video clips with kittens.
While nostalgia helps keep beloved childhood entertainment alive, it can also gloss over the parts that aren't as funny. There were many funny moments on The Dana Carvey Show, but almost an equal number of misses as well. Trying to revive the idea of a variety show, every episode started with a musical number about that week's sponsor. The best of these were dancers dressed as the ingredients of Mountain Dew. ("I'm gum arabic! I'm Yellow 5!") After that, Dana Carvey would spend time talking to the audience and answering their questions. These segments hardly ever worked. The mediocre sketches left me looking at the progress bar, waiting for the next segment.
At worst, the sketches are downright painful to get through, but this is through no fault of its own. As a topical comedy show being viewed 15 years after the fact, the show suffers from what TVTropes.org calls "Funny Aneurysm Moments." Those are moments that are funny on the original viewing, but become cringe-inducing on repeat viewings due to later developments on the show or real life events. In the case of The Dana Carvey Show . . . I obviously wasn't aware at the time how Princess Di was viewed in the public eye before her death. The first episode concludes with Dana Carvey as the Church Lady, reading a list of possible new titles for Di after her divorce from Prince Charles. These included "Queen Orgasmia," "Slut Slut Slut," and "Princess Di-ing to Get Laid." That's not even the worst of it--that title goes to an act-long sketch in which Carvey impersonates Charles, singing a song about how he wants to behead Di. It ends with him using an axe to chop of the head of a Di dummy. Less shocking but still creepy is a fake commercial for a bus company whose advertising strategy is to emphasize that if you travel by bus, you won't die in a plane crash. Of course, that didn't stop me from singing the catchy theme-song hidden in my memory. "Streyhound, don't fly! Streyhound, don't die!"
All eight episodes of The Dana Carvey Show are available free on Hulu. Honestly, you might be better off just watching clips, or fast-forwarding through large parts of the show. Watching them has tempered my nostalgia for the show, but it did show that I had remembered the sketches that are worth remembering and that there can always be more chances for artists with real talent.
