TVSquad

(S01E7) Originally aired on April 30, 1996.

It's easy to forget just how funny this show was. It's not just that it had a bunch of funny material and a talented cast (including Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and Robert Smigel), it's that the batting average for each show was damn good. There's more funny stuff in each 30 minutes of a Dana Carvey Show episode than in 90 minutes of Saturday Night Live or even SCTV. No dead moments to sit through. I'm not sure why this show was so short-lived (other than the fact that the first episode featured Carvey as President Clinton, suckling a bunch of cats on his teats). And ratings, ratings, blah, blah, blah.

It was actually kinda hard to pick a standout episode since so many episodes have a lot of great stuff. But I think the video after the jump has some classic moments.

I think The Onion had it right: The Dana Carvey Show, which was canceled in 1996 after a whopping six episodes, was ahead of its time and too surreal for folks used to Saturday Night Live, but it also offered, for many, a first glance at writers and actors who eventually helped define today's reigning style of comedy: Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Louis C.K., Dino Stamatopoulos, Dave Chappelle and Charlie Kaufman.