In the history ofSaturday Night Live, few featured players have made the lasting impact thatDana Carveyhas. During his run, his goofy persona and voice impression mastery made him one of the show’s most popular names. In the era of PresidentGeorge H.W. Bush, Carvey knocked it out of the park with his off kilter, silly impersonation of the 41st President. There was also his wink toArnold Schwarzeneggeras part of the Hans and Franz workout buddy pairing withKevin Nealon. And of course, who could forget the pop culture phenomenon known as “Wayne’s World,” where he played the bespectacled Garth alongsideMike Meyers' Wayne. This is one of several SNL sketches that got the movie treatment, and30 years later, we looked back on why it was such a hit.
Another of Carvey’s most popular characters was The Church Lady. The character meant so much to him that it caused him to reject one of comedy’s biggest stars.Robin WilliamshostedSNLtwice during the 1980s. One time, when he asked Carvey about being in a Church Lady skit, Carvey shockingly turned him down. So what happened?
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Why Made The Church Lady Such a Hit on ‘SNL’?
In the mid 1980s televangelists were a popular part of TV. Enter Dana Carvey as Enid Strict, or The Church Lady, inSNL’s “Church Chat” segments. In the sketches, Carvey became an older woman with curly short hair and horn-rimmed glasses. If you grew up in church, you knew exactly the type of woman The Church Lady was. She wasn’t your sweet old grandma, but a devout and judgmental prude. Carvey’s portrayal of The Church Lady wasn’t angry and bitter, however. Her accent and mannerisms were sweet enough, sucking you in for what was to come.
“Church Chat” had Carvey in front of a stained-glass window with The Church Lady running her own talk show. Sitting next to her would either be anotherSNLfeatured player or that week’s host. The Church Lady might play nice with her guest for a bit, though with an aura of sarcastic smugness to her tone, before she turned the tables and called out her guests for all of their wicked sins. She even had her own catchphrase, where The Church Lady would wiggle her nose and say, “Well, isn’t that special.” Carvey was part ofSNLfrom 1986-1992 and played the character multiple times there and later on his short-livedThe Dana Carvey Show,which helped launch A-list comedians and writers. She’s even made comebacks when Carvey has returned to hostSNLhimself. That contrast of a young man dressed up as an elderly woman, a woman who is so judgmental and awful yet likable in her presentation, made The Church Lady one ofSNL’s all-time greatest characters.
Earlier this year, Dana Carvey talked about the origins of The Church Lady with theNew York Post, telling them, “It was terrifying … I can show you ‘Church Chat’ episodes early on where my hand is held up and it’s drenched in sweat. I vetted the rhythms of the character in comedy clubs but wasn’t sure it would work. I was on withVictoria Jacksonand I went, ‘Well, isn’t that special?’ and it got a huge laugh and that relaxed me. It was like, ‘OK, they get it.'”
Dana Carvey Rejected Robin Williams’ Request To Collaborate
Dana Carvey may have been becoming a big name in comedy in the ’80s, but no comedian was bigger at the time than Robin Williams. Standup, television, movies, Williams conquered them all. Even the late-night talk show circuit wasn’t safe from his antics, as he’d regularly leaveJohnny Carsonin stitches onThe Tonight Show. After becoming a household name in the late ’70s and early ’80s onMork & Mindy, a show formed froma one-offHappy Daysguest spot Williams turned into his breakout role, he transitioned to becoming one of Hollywood’s most popular leading men in feature films thanks to classic films of the decade likeGood Morning, VietnamandDead Poet’s Society. It was during this era, as Williams was becoming a megastar, that he twice hostedSaturday Night Live. One member of the cast, however, was too intimidated by Williams’ hyperactive style to want to work with him.
Recently, on hisFly on the Wallpodcast, which he co-hosts with anotherSNLveteran,David Spade, Dana Carvey talked about the pain of having to tell Robin Williams “no” when he hostedSNLone week. The two were friends, but when Williams called up Carvey on the day of his appearance to tell him how much he wanted to work with him on a “Church Chat” segment, Carvey shockingly turned Williams down.
“He was a really good friend, but he really wanted to do ‘Church Chat'. And this was in the early days, this was my golden ticket, and I was very careful. I thought if Robin got so excited… I was just afraid of it… It was heartbreaking, but you know we got past that and we were [friends]. But in those days, your thing [character] was very precious. I wanted to keep it quasi-real, in a sense.”
Few Could Keep Up with Robin Williams' High Energy
The idea of one Hollywood’s heavyweights being told “no” by someone who wasn’t on his level is hard to comprehend. Who would ever decline to work with someone as funny as Robin Williams? He made everything he was part of better just by being in it. When you stop and think about it, however, it’s easier to understand where Dana Carvey was coming from. The Church Lady was a solo act. Sure, there was another character sitting beside her to play off of, but the segment was all about her. It was the job of the otherSNLplayer or that week’s host to simply react to Carvey and take what he dished out. They were the punching bag and couldn’t hit back.
Robin Williams was not one to sit back and not be the center of attention, and few would want to see that, anyway. Williams' high energy effortlessly stole the show. He was the star, no matter what. Look at his comedic roles. They’re almost never buddy comedies where Williams is sharing top billing with someone else. That was impossible when the goal was to make an audience laugh. For example,Sally FieldandPierce Brosnanwere big stars in 1993 when they acted withWilliams inMrs. Doubtfire, but that’s not their movie. It’s the Robin Williams show. As great as they are, they were there to react to Robin’s antics, not match them.
Robin Williams is remembered today, almost a decade after his death, as one of the most energetic comedians we’ve ever seen. When he passed in 2014, the creator ofMork & Mindy,Garry Marshall, remembered Williamsby giving a sample of a conversation the two once had. He said to Williams, “‘Do you think we will ever grow up?’ And he said without missing a beat, ‘I’m afraid if I ever grow up, I won’t be able to make a living.’ Play was his passion and what drove him each day.”
Of course, Robin Williams was able to make a living by being a grown-up, more mellow dramatic actor. The Academy Award he won for Best Supporting Actor in 1997 for thedrama classicGood Will Huntingis proof of that. Still, it’s as a wild, buzzing fly of a comedian that Robin Williams shined brightest. For Dana Carvey, the intensity of that was too much to handle.
