A Familiar "Dana Carvey Show" Sketch

Last night, we watched the complete series of The Dana Carvey Show on DVD for the first time.  The 1996 sketch comedy show starred Dana Carvey shortly after he left SNL, and featured a supporting cast that included Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert before either were a household name.  The show also featured an impressive writing staff that included Louis C.K. (Louie), Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation), and Robert Smigel (SNL's TV Funhouse cartoons).  I had seen a few sketches online before, but never actually watched whole episodes.  The show only lasted 7 episodes before it was canceled, but the DVD set includes an 8th episode that never aired.  I got the DVD set for Chanukkah this year, so I was very excited to watch it.  

Unfortunately, the show hasn't aged very well, with lots of topical sketches about Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Ross Perot, OJ Simpson, and other old news stories to which we  didn't even get the references. Some sketches were kind of funny, but the show overall was rather disappointing, especially considering the all-star cast of actors and writers on the show.  Nevertheless, there was one sketch that really stood out to us.  The sketch featured a deleted scene from The Wizard of Oz which included the deleted character of "Dennis Blanchard", who wanted to see the wizard because he wanted a, well, I'll let you see for yourself:  (BTW, Steve Carell plays the Tinman and Stephen Colbert is the Scarecrow!)

The sketch stood out to us for a few reasons.  First, it aged much better than the others since it wasn't spoofing the forgotten headlines of 1996.  Second, it was actually pretty funny.  And third, it very closely resembled a recent Saturday Night Live sketch, which also featured a deleted character from The Wizard of Oz!  See for yourself:

Obviously the deleted character from both sketches are quite different, but still, the premise of a sketch about a deleted character from The Wizard of Oz is oddly specific.  Were the SNL writers inspired by the old Dana Carvey sketch?  Or did they both happen to thing of the same random idea?  We'll probably never know, but still, it's hard not to wonder...

Louis C.K. to Host SNL!

Louis C.K. on Parks & Recreation

At the end of the summer, I put together a list of 10 people I'd like to see host Saturday Night Live for the first time this season.  Guest Blogger Daniel made his own top 10 wishlist for new SNL hosts.  And now, six episodes in, one of these 20 individuals will finally be hosting.  Comedian Louis C.K. (from my list! Point: me) will be hosting the next episode of SNL on November 3.  Before this summer, I primarily knew Louis C.K. as Dave, Leslie Knope's cop boyfriend in a few episodes of Parks & Rec.  But this summer, after hearing a lot of buzz, we finally decided to start watching Louis C.K.'s hit TV series Louie, and we were hooked.  (When I say "start watching", I naturally mean we bought seasons 1 and 2 on DVD and watched them in succession before watching season 3 each week when it aired on TV.  We would never just start watching a show without watching from the beginning.  Obviously.)  I have been wanting to blog about Louie since we started watching it this summer, but I just didn't know what to say about it.  It's the most fascinating and unique show on television. There is literally nothing on TV like it.  It's a comedy, but it's not always funny.  Some episodes contain two short unrelated stories, while other stories take up one, two, or even three episodes.  Sometimes the show features Louis performing standup between each segment, and other episodes feature no standup at all.  The show usually begins with its opening sequence and theme song, but other times it's gone altogether.  The point is that Louie is no ordinary sitcom, just like Louis C.K. is no ordinary sitcom star.  For this reason, despite being a hilarious comedian, he might not make a great SNL host.