Too Funny to Fail isn’t just a documentary about funny people. It’s a documentary that’s hilarious in its own right. Director Josh Greenbaum assembles the comedic powerhouse behind the short-lived Dana Carvey Show and has them recall the idiosyncratic, subversive skits they did on the show. They are, of course, naturally funny, but it’s the questions Greenbaum asks them off-cam, the clips he shows, and the titles he picks for them (Bill Hader, as a fan who used to watch the show in lieu of going to classes, is stuck with “once skipped school”) that gives the documentary its own comedic signature. The spectacular failure of The Dana Carvey Show is also an inspirational story of sorts, given the astronomical success its staff and cast have and are continuing to enjoy since its cancellation.
"For a movie about a cancelled TV show, Too Funny to Fail is surprisingly cheerful, in large part owing to the fact that so many of the performers and writers on the show went on to such great comedy heights."
— Ian Crouch
"What Too Funny to Fail does do is make it clear, more broadly, that groundbreaking comedy is hard even when you've got a dream team creating it."
— Jen Chaney
It had all the makings of a huge television success: a white-hot comic at the helm, a coveted primetime slot, and a pantheon of future comedy legends in the cast and crew. So why did The Dana Carvey Show—with a writers room and cast including then unknowns Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Louis C.K., Robert Smigel, Charlie Kaufman, and more— crash and burn so spectacularly? TOO FUNNY TO FAIL tells the hilarious true story of a crew of genius misfits who set out to make comedy history… and succeeded in a way they never intended.
Tracks the rise and fall of The Dana Carvey Show, the network sketch show that tanked in the ‘90s but found a niche spot among comedy nerds, not least because it launched the careers of then-unknowns Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and Robert Smigel.
Again, it has to be that cast. Joining Carvey, Carell, Colbert, and Smigel are Louis CK, Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Robert Carlock (The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Dino Stamatopoulos (Community), and Jon Glaser (Parks and Recreation).
This is a comedy nerd’s (my) dream.
