Dana Thomas Carvey
(born June 2, 1955) is an American comedian and actor, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live
and the spin-off movie Wayne's World.
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Biography
Early life
Carvey was born in
Missoula,
Montana, the son of Billie, a schoolteacher, and William Carvey, a high school business teacher.
[1] Carvey is the brother of
Brad Carvey, the engineer/designer of the
Video Toaster. The character Garth Algar (from the movie
Wayne's World) is a loosely-based portrayal of Brad. Carvey was raised
Lutheran.
[2] When he was three years old, his family moved to
San Carlos, California, in the
San Francisco Bay Area. He received his first
drum kit at an early age. He attended Tierra Linda Junior High in
San Carlos, California,
Carlmont High School in
Belmont, California, College of San Mateo in San Mateo, CA, and received his
Bachelor's degree in communications from
San Francisco State University.
In 1979, while performing at the
Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, he met Paula Zwaggerman, who would later become his wife. Soon after returning to the Bay Area in 1980, Dana and Paula were engaged. They have two sons together, Dex and Thomas, who were born in 1991 and 1993 respectively.
Early career
He had a minor role in
Halloween II
, and co-starred on
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 also starred in the short-lived movie-based action show
Blue Thunder.
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. His breakout character was
The Church Lady, the uptight, smug, and pious host of "Church Chat." Carvey said he based the character on women he knew from his church while growing up, who would keep track of the attendance of other church-goers. He became so associated with the character that later cast members like
Chris Farley referred to Carvey simply as "The Lady."
Carvey's other original characters included Garth Algar (from
"Wayne's World"), Hans (from
"Hans and Franz"), and The Grumpy Old Man (from
Weekend Update
appearances).
During the
1992 US presidential election campaign, he 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, who was played by
Phil Hartman. As Perot, Carvey declined to say the show's signature "Live from New York" opening line, telling Carvey-as-Bush "Why don't you do it, live-boy?" Carvey left SNL in 1993.
In 1992, Carvey joined
Mike Myers to bring their popular "
Wayne's World" sketch to the silver screen with
Wayne's World,
the movie. A sequel was filmed and released in 1993, titled
Wayne's World 2.
After the two reprised their Wayne's World characters at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards (see below), Myers shot down rumors that there would be a second sequel.
[3]
Carvey's SNL work won him an Emmy in 1993 for "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program." He has a total of six Emmy nominations.
He held the record for having said "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" most often, until
Darrell Hammond surpassed him.
[4]
Celebrity impersonations
After SNL
NBC executives hoped to get Carvey to take over the 12:30 a.m. (ET) weeknight spot in the network's lineup in 1993 when
David Letterman left his show,
Late Night with David Letterman,
for an 11:30 p.m. (ET) show on
CBS. A big Letterman fan, Carvey rejected the offer, causing embarrassment for the network, which had publicly floated his name. The 12:30 spot eventually went to
Conan O'Brien.
In 1994, Carvey starred in the film
Clean Slate.
The following year, in 1995, 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 station's name, pronouncing it "huhbo."
He reprised many of his SNL characters in 1996 for
The Dana Carvey Show,
a critically-acclaimed but short-lived prime-time variety show on ABC. The show was most notable for launching
Robert Smigel's cartoon "
The Ambiguously Gay Duo." In 1997, he underwent open-heart surgery for a blocked artery, but the doctors operated on the wrong artery. Carvey later sued for
medical malpractice and was awarded $7.5 million. He has had to undergo a total of five medical procedures (four angioplasties and one surgery) to correct his heart problems. Carvey stated in an interview with Larry King that he donated all the money awarded to him to charity. In 2002, he returned to films in the comedy
Master of Disguise
, which was panned by critics but managed about $40 million at the North American box office.
He is number 90 on Comedy Central's list of the
100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.
Carvey would eventually withdraw from the limelight to focus on his family. He later said in an interview that he does not want to be in a career in which his kids would already be grown with him having neglected spending time with them.
At the January 2, 2007 funeral of
Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush reminisced in his eulogy about how Ford took it in stride when SNL's
Chevy Chase made Ford the object of impressions. Bush cited this as a valuable lesson in learning to laugh at one's self as a part of public life. "I'd tell you more about that," Bush continued, "but as Dana Carvey would say, [imitating Carvey imitating him] 'Not gonna do it! Wouldn't be prudent!'".
Carvey made an appearance at the
2008 MTV Movie Awards, reprising his SNL character Garth Algar with host
Mike Myers for a Wayne's World sketch. On June 14, 2008, Carvey filmed a second HBO stand-up special, the first in 13 years, entitled
Squatting Monkeys Tell No Lies.
Filmography
- Halloween II
– 1981
- This is Spinal Tap
– 1984
- Racing with the Moon
– 1984
- Blue Thunder (TV series)
– 1984
- Tough Guys
– 1986
- Moving
– 1988
- Opportunity Knocks
– 1990
- Wayne's World
– 1992
- Wayne's World 2
– 1993
- Clean Slate
– 1994
- The Road to Wellville
– 1994
- Trapped in Paradise
– 1994
- Critics' Choice
(HBO Special) – 1995
- The Shot
– 1996
- the Dana Carvey Show
- 1996
- Little Nicky
– 2000
- The Master of Disguise
– 2002
- Tusker
– 2002
- Squatting Monkeys Tell No Lies
(HBO Special) - 2008
See also
- Recurring Saturday Night Live characters and sketches (listed by cast member)
References
- Dana Carvey Biography (1995-)
- CNN Transcript - Larry King Live: Dana Carvey Lives to Tell About Mistaken Bypass Surgery - June 29, 2000
- http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0247625/
- Dana Carvey - Biography