Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of The Dana Carvey Show

An oral history, with clips and highlights, of one of the 1990s' most notorious flops. Riding high as a celebrated Saturday Night Live alumni, fresh graduate Dana Carvey had his choice of suitors / collaborators / formats. His picks were spot-on for everything but the broadcast partner, as he drafted a staggering cast of pre-fame talent (Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Louis CK, Robert Smigel, even a few episodes with Bob Odenkirk) but then tossed the brilliantly absurd, counter-culture fruits of their labor to primetime ABC. Even before Disney purchased the network, this marriage was doomed. It's a fundamentally simple story, perhaps too scant for a full-length feature, and that leads this documentary to feel somewhat padded. There's lots of fun material - candid footage of the baby-faced soon-to-be superstars auditioning, goofing around in the writer's room, looking back fondly upon the experience - but too often relies on highlights from the show or awkward bits stolen from other, tangentially-related programs and films. As this was produced by Hulu, which just so happens to be the show's online home, you'd think the goal would be prodding unfamiliar viewers to move right on to a binge-watch, to judge the material for themselves. Instead, I felt like I'd already done so.

If you care about the excruciating details of how every person came to have a hand in this show, this is for you. I just couldn't keep with it even though i wanted ti know what sank the show.

Really fun documentary that showed a comedy show that was too edgy for its time.

Why do they feel the need to interrupt every sketch with commentary....shut-up

So many talented writers, actors, show runners; so much mutual admiration; such fun being had by all.

Two women on screen in this entire movie, only one of whom was interviewed, and briefly at that.

I guess these comedy heroes didn't know funny women, or any who they thought were deserving of a big break on the Dana Carvey show. Or maybe it just wasn't as much fun working with female colleagues - is that it?

I'd had quite enough of them congratulating one another - including Louis C.K. - on their subsequent careers by the end. Dispiriting.