Dana Carvey

**Dana Thomas Carvey** (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, impressionist, screenwriter, and producer. Carvey is best known for his seven seasons as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series *Saturday Night Live* from 1986 to 1993, which earned him five consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Carvey is also known for his film roles in comedies such as *Tough Guys* (1986), *Opportunity Knocks* (1990), *Trapped in Paradise* (1994), and *The Master of Disguise* (2002), as well as reprising his role of Garth Algar in the *SNL* spin-off film *Wayne's World* (1992) and its sequel *Wayne's World 2* (1993).

## Early life

Carvey was born in Missoula, Montana, the fourth of five (with three older brothers and one younger sister) born to Billie Dahl, a schoolteacher, and William John (Bud) Carvey, a high school business teacher. Carvey is the brother of Brad Carvey, the engineer/designer of the Video Toaster. The character Garth Algar is loosely based on Brad. Carvey has English, German, Irish, Norwegian, and Swedish ancestry, and was raised Lutheran.

In 1957, his family moved to Anderson, California, where his father got a teaching job. When he was three years old, his family moved to San Carlos, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. He attended Tierra Linda Junior High in San Carlos, Carlmont High School in Belmont, California (where he was a member of the Central Coast Section champion cross country team), College of San Mateo in San Mateo, California, and received his bachelor's degree in broadcast communications from San Francisco State University. In 1977, he won the San Francisco Stand-Up Comedy Competition.

## Career

### Early career

Carvey had a minor role in *Halloween II* in 1981, and co-starred in *One of the Boys* in 1982, a short-lived television sitcom that also starred Mickey Rooney, Nathan Lane, and Meg Ryan. In 1984, Carvey had a small role in Rob Reiner's film *This Is Spinal Tap*, in which he played a mime, with fellow comedian Billy Crystal (who tells him "Mime is money!"). He appeared in the music video for the Greg Kihn song "Lucky" in 1985. He also appeared in the short-lived film-based action television series *Blue Thunder*. His big break came in 1986, when he co-starred opposite Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster in *Tough Guys*. As a lifelong Douglas fan, Carvey threw in an affectionate impression of his mentor, while describing a hairy scene they did together on a moving train.

Carvey was a finalist for the hosting role on the Nickelodeon TV game show *Double Dare*. He ultimately withdrew his name from consideration after he was cast on *Saturday Night Live*. The job would go to Marc Summers.

### *Saturday Night Live*

In 1986, Carvey became a household name when he joined the cast of NBC's *Saturday Night Live*. He, along with newcomers Phil Hartman, Kevin Nealon, Jan Hooks, and Victoria Jackson, helped to reverse the show's declining popularity and made *SNL* "must-see" TV once again. An important part of the show's revival was Carvey's breakout character, the Church Lady, the uptight, smug, and pious host of *Church Chat*. Carvey said he based the character on women he knew from church while growing up, who would keep track of other churchgoers' attendance. He became so associated with the character that later cast members such as Chris Farley referred to Carvey simply as "The Lady".

Carvey's other original characters included Garth Algar (from *Wayne's World*), who was based on his brother; Hans (from "Hans and Franz"); the Grumpy Old Man (from *Weekend Update* appearances); and Ching Chang, a Chinese poultry store owner. Throughout the election and presidency of George H. W. Bush, he was the designated impersonator of the president, making him the lead actor of the regular political sketches on *SNL*.

During the 1992 US presidential election campaign, Carvey also did an impression of independent candidate Ross Perot; in a prime-time special before the election, Carvey played both George H. W. Bush and Perot in a three-way debate with Bill Clinton, played by Phil Hartman. As Perot—recorded and timed to give the appearance of interacting with the live Bush and Clinton—Carvey eschewed the show's signature "Live from New York" opening line, telling Bush "Why don't you do it, live-boy?" Carvey left *SNL* in 1993.

In 1992, Carvey joined Mike Myers in *Wayne's World*, the film. A sequel, *Wayne's World 2*, was filmed and released in 1993.

Carvey's *SNL* work won him an Emmy Award in 1993 for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. He has a total of six Emmy nominations. Carvey has returned to host *SNL* four times, in 1994, 1996, 2000, and 2011 in addition to numerous cameo appearances.

### After *SNL*

In 1994, Carvey starred in the film *Clean Slate*. The following year, Carvey filmed his first HBO stand-up special *Critic's Choice*. The show featured Carvey doing many of his *SNL* impersonations, as well as making fun of the premium channel's name, pronouncing it "hobo".

He had to turn down a role in *Bad Boys* because he felt overwhelmed as a new father.

He reprised many of his *SNL* characters in 1996 for *The Dana Carvey Show*, a short-lived prime-time variety show on ABC. The show was most notable for launching Robert Smigel's cartoon "The Ambiguously Gay Duo", as well as the careers of Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert.

In 2002, he returned to films in the spy comedy *The Master of Disguise*. Released a week after former colleague Mike Myers' successful film *Austin Powers in Goldmember*, most critics compared the movies and panned Carvey's effort. However, the movie did manage about $40 million at the North American box office. In March 2007, review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film as the 18th worst-reviewed movie of the 2000s decade, with an approval rating of 1% based on 103 reviews. Comedian and former *Mystery Science Theater 3000* host Michael J. Nelson named the film the third-worst comedy ever made. Carvey did not appear in a film again until 2011's *Jack and Jill*. It, too, has been called one of the worst comedies of all time. He had previously appeared in another Adam Sandler film, *Little Nicky*.

In 2004, he ranked number 90 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time.