The broadening deference afforded to the slew of one shot, dead in the water shows from the ‘90s continues to expand as the variety show that Dana Carvey hosted over just eight episodes has recently seen not just a DVD release replete with outtakes and commentary, but a number of features over at the Onion’s “A/V Club.” Despite Carvey’s slight and renewed notoriety, he remains a laid back, off the cuff, public figure commenting on everything from his kids being naturally comedic to the family’s move back from Marin County to the creepy confines of Hollywoodland.
There’s not a modicum of disdain in his quips as Carvey recounts his fleeomg north after finding the constraints that filmic work put on his personal life too bothersome. And even if there aren’t any mentions of his time as Garth – which might well be considered his most important contribution to the grand American consciousness – the aspects of his personality that enabled him to become a Midwestern proponent of metal comes through in the A/V Club interviews as well as the almost three hours of television that he led back in ’96.
Most of the notice that gets posted up here and there regarding the Dana Carvey Show has to do with the veritable laundry list of comedic figures that it spawned. Everyone from Louis CK to the Stevens/Stephens made an appearance. And while it would still be a bit of time before those folks would come to be a part of the most public of public spheres in the country, their comedic flair was certainly in place by this juncture of their individual careers.
With that DVD release as well as the episodes being posted on a few different online sites – like Hulu – 13 years after the fact, some of the work still holds up decently well. There’s nary a reference to the show without some recounting of the Bill Clinton/nipple sketch – and yes, it’s as bizarre as that short phrase might infer. And while Carvey is commonly overshadowed by his cast of players, there are moments when everyone works in concert together to create some settings that should have served to catapult the show into heavy comedic company – even if the show may have had a time slot that should have disallowed it from crossing some of the lines that it did.
When Carrell and Carvey stand cardboard-cut-out-still as Germanic screamers, getting out weird lines like, “I can tell by your beard that you like Spaghetti Os,” the public should have been hooked. The deadpan that not just these folks – but the other Stephen as well – were able to affect is surpassed by none. And in the subsequent roles that those folks went on to, this same acumen has been applied to anchorman gigs, reportorial work and as the head of an office.
The attention lavished upon this dead show obviously isn’t going to bring it back – and I doubt that anyone involved needs the dough at this point. The Dana Carvey Show, while remaining a simple footnote in what television could allow, has at least been annotated.

