Too funny to fail: the Life and Death of the Dana Carvey Show (hulu)

[Dynamo of Eternia]

I just watched this over the weekend. I wasn't even aware of this documentary until I stumbled on it while seeing what was on Hulu.

I watched the show back when it originally aired, and several years ago now it actually did get released on DVD (much to my surprise) and I bought it. I remember when watching the DVD set years ago, I was surprised that Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert were on it. Though I had seen the show when it aired, it was a good few years before they really became recognizable names. So in the intervening years I basically forgot who specifically was on the show besides Dana Carvey, being that they were all relative unknowns at the time.

I loved how for most of the episodes, they had a sponsor and would name the show after it (i.e. The Mountain Dew Dana Carvey Show).

So when I saw that this documentary was on Hulu, I had to watch it. It was awesome. While I have known for several years now (since watching the DVDs) that Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert were on the show, I had no idea how influential that show ended up being on launching their careers. Despite it's short lifespan, it was a big part of what got them hired on the Daily Show.

I found the clip below on Youtube from the documentary. This portion of the documentary talks about the time slot being on ABC after Home Improvement. And the Dana Carvey Show wasn't exactly the same kind of family-friendly fair as Home Improvement and other shows on the network at that time. This is probably my favorite part of the documentary, and I cracked up so hard at it.

Warning, there is some swearing later in this clip.

Too Funny to Fail - Home Improvement time slot - YouTube

In addition to this documentary, all 8 episodes of The Dana Carvey Show are on Hulu. For anyone who is a fan of Dana Carvey, Robert Smigel, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and/or sketch comedy in general, I highly recommend watching the show and the documentary. Despite some dated references (most dealing with politics from the time such as the Bill Clinton / Bob Dole Presidential race), overall the show actually holds up pretty well IMO despite being just over 20 years old.