Too Funny To Fail: The Review

Last night I watched the Hulu original "Too Funny to Fail: The Life and Death of the Dana Carvey Show" and wooo-doggie, I can't recommend it highly enough. Between this and "Batman & Bill" Hulu is really killing it with these pop culture documentaries. I hope they keep churning them out, I'd watch a billion of these.

For those not in the know The Dana Carvey Show was a sketch comedy show that ran on ABC for all of 7 episodes. It was a spectacular failure, especially when you consider all the talent that worked on the show: Steve Carell, Bill Chott, Stephen Colbert, Chris McKinney, Robert Smigel, Louis C.K, Charlie Kaufman, Jon Glaser, Spike Feresten, and Greg Daniels. Colbert, Carell and Louis C.K. would go on to be big stars in front of the camera but almost everyone involved with the show have had tremendous careers. Charlie Kaufman has been nominated for 4 academy awards for pete's sake.

While the documentary certainly paints the participants in a favorable light, it doesn't pull any punches as to why the show failed. Odds are anyone that remembers the show remembers how weird the skits were. The very first skit on the premier episode featured Bill Clinton breast feeding a baby and a bunch of puppies and kittens with a row of prosthetic teets. Even today a skit like that is going to get you relegated to 12:15am on Adult Swim. Imagine that in 1996, right after a very special episode of Home Improvement?

This is definitely a must watch for any comedy nerd or for anyone looking for some quick 1990s nostalgia.