This week, Jason Forrest's Network Awesome has thrown the spotlight on the short-lived but memorable sketch comedy series The Dana Carvey Show, which aired on ABC during the spring of 1996. While not quite as famous among comedy buffs as The Richard Pryor Show, both series got yanked quickly after continual run-ins with Standards and Practices over controversial material.
Since the series disappeared after seven of the planned ten episodes aired, many comedy fans, myself included, did not see it until clips were posted on YouTube more than a decade later.
After seeing how funny the YouTube clips were, one wonders why HBO or Comedy Central didn't pick the show up after ABC cancelled it.
The show's humor was very over-the-top, at times with a sheer silliness recalling Spike Milligan. Its cast featured a bunch of Second City troupe veterans, including Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert, a few years before their rise to fame on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and in movies.
As the writers included Robert Smigel and Louis CK, this program was not afraid to go way out for a laugh.
All eight episodes are up on YouTube. The season finale was arguably the funniest episode in the series.
Of course, the Carvey show couldn't have Robert Smigel on the writing staff without including episodes of TV Funhouse: the thrilling adventures of Ace & Gary, The Ambiguously Gay Duo (starting at 1:33).
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