1996’s Most Influential TV Show Was Cancelled After 8 Episodes, But Launched Some Of The 2000s’ Best Comedians

It must have seemed like a no-brainer in 1996. ABC had the opportunity to take Dana Carvey, one of the most beloved members of Saturday Night Live, and give him his own prime-time sketch show. And, in the SNL tradition, the show would be written by and feature up-and-coming talents that the world hadn’t met yet. Surely, Carvey and fellow SNL alum Robert Smigel would create something special, with characters not unlike the Church Lady and Carvey’s iconic George Bush impression. How could such a show be anything less than a ratings giant?

The answer, as it became clear when The Dana Carvey Show was axed after just eight episodes, was pretty clear. Carvey and Smigel had no interest in doing Saturday Night Live. They wanted something edgier. Something that wouldn’t play into Carvey’s family friendly image, instead showing the darker side of his sense of humor. There would be no “Choppin’ Broccoli” here. No Garth Algar saying “Schwing!” No Hans showing how to “Pump! You up!” Instead, there would be shocking sketches filled with ideas that SNL would never touch. But the show did one thing that ABC had dreamed of. It introduced the world to a number of now iconic comedians.

The Dana Carvey Show Was Beyond Irrelevant

The Dana Carvey Show, which had a different title every episode, including “The Taco Bell Dana Carvey Show” and “The Szechuan Dynasty Dana Carvey Show,” had more in common with the ironic and grim sketch shows that Gen X loved than it did with Saturday Night Live. It fit in better with Mr. Show with Bob and David and The Kids in the Hall; two shows that would in no way work during prime time on a broadcast channel.

With sketches like “Stupid Pranksters” and “Skinheads from Maine,” not to mention the one where Carvey plays a version of Bill Clinton who lets animals suckle at his teets, the show shocked audiences with its style. Making matters worse for the show was what it followed on ABC’s schedule, as this moment from the documentary Too Funny to Fail shows:

The Dana Carvey Show was everything ABC’s family-friendly sitcoms weren’t. And that worked against the show in two ways: the ABC audiences were never going to like it, and the people who would love The Dana Carvey Show were never going to watch something that was on ABC.

Related

4 Saturday Night Live Cast Members Missing From SNL’s 50th Anniversary Special

A handful of former iconic Saturday Night Live cast members were noticeably missing from “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” on February 16, 2025.

The Dana Carvey Show Changed Comedy Forever

While it lasted just eight episodes (and the final episode never aired on ABC), the talent behind The Dana Carvey Show was too powerful to ignore. The show’s co-creator, Robert Smigel, was already well known for his work on Saturday Night Live, but it was this show where he introduced the world to The Ambiguously Gay Duo. A year later, he would debut Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

The head writer for The Dana Carvey Show was Louis C.K. And joining him in the writers room were Charlie Kaufman, the man behind classic films like Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I’m Thinking of Ending Things, and Jon Glaser, best known as the hilarious Councilman Jamm on Parks and Rec. Along with those three were two other writers who were also actors in the sketches; Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell. Colbert would join The Daily Show in 1997, and Carell would join in 1999.

Dana Carvey used the star power he had gained from Saturday Night Live and built a show that was on the air for less than two months. But by trying something different, he and Robert Smigel gave new voices a chance to shine, and in turn, they changed the landscape of American comedy.