Dana Carvey Shares the Inspiration Behind His Lorne Michaels Impression
Dana Carvey recently visited Studio 8H, reflecting on his iconic celebrity impressions from his tenure on Saturday Night Live.
In a new episode of NBC’s companion web series The Rundown, the Emmy winner shared the origins of his impersonation of Lorne Michaels, the show’s creator.
“When I look at this, my first reaction is terror, like I’m literally frightened,” Carvey said during the episode as he stood before the show’s rundown board.
Carvey explained, “The way I learned to do Lorne Michaels would be after the read-through on Wednesday, and we had a ton of sketches we just read, 50 of them. And then, Lorne would try to put them on the rundown for the show, very frustrated. And he said, ‘Um, I still have no f*cking first act.’”
Watch on Deadline
In 2016, Carvey recounted this story while addressing rumors that he and Mike Myers had a falling out over Myers’ use of Carvey’s Michaels impression for his character Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers films. Their relationship has since been mended.
After concluding his seven-season run from 1986 to 1993, Carvey made a return to SNL in 2024, portraying President Joe Biden in the lead-up to Election Day. He was joined by Maya Rudolph as Vice President Kamala Harris, Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff, and Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz.
