Dana Carvey Somehow Became the Breakout Star of ‘SNL’ Season 50

With all the hype surrounding its 50th anniversary season, someone was due to stand out on Saturday Night Live this year. Marcello Hernandez seemed primed to take the spotlight. Maybe Chloe Fineman would finally be crowned queen. Sarah Sherman? Ego Nwodim? One of the new featured players? But an unexpected comedian has become the season’s breakout star: Dana Carvey.

Yeah, that Dana Carvey. 

It was an unexpected giggle in the season premiere when Carvey dropped in unexpectedly as the show’s ninth (ninth!) Joe Biden impersonator. Predictably, Carvey nailed the guy in ways that more precise impressionists like James Austin Johnson couldn’t. “Guess what? And by the way…” became Biden shorthand in the way that Carvey’s “Nah ga da it!” defined George Bush. Maybe Carvey wasn’t throwing 100 mph anymore but he still had enough of a fastball to deliver quality innings during election season.

But a funny thing happened after Kamala Harris lost the election, eliminating the need for a resident Biden. Carvey kept showing up, week after week. In the first post-election show, he became Elon Musk, an impression Carvey admitted that he “can’t do very well.” 

He followed that up with a double-dip, bringing back his Biden while throwing in an Al Pacino during Wicked auditions for good measure. He’s already in the studio, why not let the guy chew some scenery?

That brings us to last night, when Carvey told the rest of the cast to get the hell out of his way and squeezed into his old Church Lady dress to review 2024, “the most Satanic year in history.”

Carvey is just throwing feces to display dominance at this point. He’s now got the muscle to bring back his Fly on the Wall co-host David Spade, doing as little as possible to convince us that he’s Hunter Biden. No shade to Spade, but is there any way Lorne Michaels is inviting him to open a Season 50 show unless he was clutching the pleated skirt of his podcast pal? (The mini-plug for Fly on the Wall? Shameless.) 

The sketch is funny enough — it’s no classic —  but the writing and other impressions (Sherman as the now irrelevant Matt Gaetz, Hernandez as Yankees free agent Juan Soto) are beside the point. Just listen to the whoops and hollers when Carvey looks into the camera and purrs, “Well, isn’t that special?” It’s fan service, pure and simple. Who can’t feel a little nostalgic hearing the voice of the late Phil Hartman telling us, “Now it’s time for Church Chat”? At least in Season 50, sentimental callbacks make sense. 

If SNL is going to bring back old cast members to relive the glory days, better to have Carvey starting shows with a bang rather than Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer reprising their Delicious Dish characters to shill for Capital One. I was hoping the ladies had enough in their wallets not to have to ask me what’s in mine.

The rise of Carvey, at 69 years old, is SNL Season 50’s most unexpected development. With a bunch of young comics still struggling to find their voice, why not give the ball to the guy who still knows how to close out games? 

Just put Carvey in the cast credits already and acknowledge he’s stealing the show.