Dana Carvey: Straight White Male, 60 (2016)

Starring: Dana Carvey
Grade: D+

Can’t Netflix just give Dana Carvey a budget to do some sort of show again? You let Mike Myers do The Pentaverate! We need to stop wasting Carvey’s talent on stand-up specials.

Summary

To start things off, Carvey does what he does best: impressions. He does Donald Trump, the Clintons, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and Jon Lovitz. Later, he also does Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Al Pacino’s Tony Montana, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon. Every single impression he does is spot-on. Is it hilarious? Not necessarily, but they are spot-on, with the lone exception of Tony Montana. Besides this, he covers a crazy number of topics that turn into unfunny, one-note jokes. This includes Italy, traveling, an Irish airline bit that just drags and revolves around dated jokes about Irish people drinking, dating younger women, sex in your 50s, long-lasting marriages, divorce, and the pharmacy, with an additional fake pharmaceutical ad campaign that elicits some laughs. Next, he touches on religion and makes some jokes about Jesus potentially being an alcoholic, some jokes about Islam, a story about a Microsoft reveal party where he was paid to be in character as the Church Lady from SNL, Caitlyn Jenner, and Bill Cosby. One funny bit he had was about Chinese documentaries and how sad the English translations can be.

It does get you laughing, but then he beats it to death, not knowing when to stop.

With this being said, Straight White Male, 60 is not devoid of laughs entirely.

Carvey has some funny jokes about how Hitler was probably tired of yelling all the time in his speeches so he might have acted like an effeminate version of himself behind the scenes, Apple Stores being like a Stanley Kubrick film (which is actually a great observation), his dad refusing to show any weakness whatsoever (the dismissive hand motion was really funny to me for some reason), his inspiration for his world-famous Garth character from Wayne’s World being based on his brother, and this fictional scenario of a rich person having his kids being raised by nannies in a different country. In this specific joke is when his Michael Caine and Liam Neeson impressions come out, and they were fantastic. They were probably the funniest jokes of the night.

The middle of the special however, was riddled with the classic, “This generation is stupid. Us older people know everything” schtick that every parent likes to say and it’s weak, outdated, predictable, and cheesy. He blames millennials and makes fun of teenagers, constantly repeating a joke where he jumbles together the sentence “bunch of fucking bullshit” to make fun of teen angst. Now the last thing I want to do is defend the younger generation by trashing these jokes, but everything Carvey said is something you would hear at a Thanksgiving dinner table, with parents making fun of their own kids because of their lack of communication skills and reliance on technology. Speaking of Thanksgiving, towards the end of the special, Carvey wastes a solid chunk of time telling this joke about Tony Montana from Scarface at Thanksgiving, complaining about the food. It goes on for way too long, it wasn’t funny at all, his impression was below average, and he repeats everything he says twice for some reason. It was just terrible.

Would it have been funny as a sketch for Saturday Night Live? Sure, I can see it, but as a stand-up joke? Fuck no!

He thinks it’s hilarious too. Years later, we still saw him try to make this particularly stupid bit work on Lights Out with David Spade. Let me tell you right now, it doesn’t.

To finish everything off, Carvey imagines a scenario where Paul McCartney talks to an angel John Lennon about what he’s missed over the years. It has some funny parts, but it wasn’t the best ending. Sadly, compared to the rest of the show, it’s one of the best jokes of the night.

My Thoughts:

Dana Carvey is a legend in comedy. No one is doubting that, but Dana Carvey: Straight White Male, 60 is a terribly weak endeavor in stand-up. Despite the grade, it’s not the worst ever or anything, but it just reaffirms my suspicion that Carvey is fantastic in sketch comedy and a decent comic actor, but just not really an impressive stand-up. Now that I’ve seen a few of his specials, I can say this with full confidence. Straight White Male, 60 was the tipping point. Everything that works (the impressions, the energy, some off-color humor, etc.), can all be seen in his sketch comedy work, and it’s the only stuff that translates well into the special. On the other hand, actual joke-telling isn’t his strong suit. Most of his jokes lack substance, he has very little material on the topics that have potential, and it results in him focusing on the mild stuff that has a clear ceiling, and when he has something that gets you to laugh, he milks the absolute fuck out of it until you’re begging for him to move on.

Yes, you’ll still laugh here and there but even fans will be disappointed with this one. Non-fans or people unfamiliar with Carvey should just stay away in general.

Look, it’s awesome to see Dana Carvey still being a presence in comedy in some way, shape, or form because the business has missed him. I just really wish this sample size was a little bit better. I’m tired of telling people how funny he is but immediately following this statement with, “…but don’t watch his stand-up specials though. He’s much better in other stuff”. If I’m trying to convince someone of the great comic mind and talent that Carvey is, the last thing I would do is show them Dana Carvey: Straight White Male, 60. This special specifically, and stand-up itself just doesn’t play to his strengths. Let’s admit it, none of us wanted to come to this conclusion, but we have been giving him a pass for years because of his name.

Carvey is a likable guy, has a great eye for comedy and is a pure talent, but Straight White Male, 60 is not worth your time if you’re looking for good stand-up. Sadly, you can say this about all of his specials.