Each year, a number of SNL cast members come to Austin for the Moontower Comedy Festival. This year was no exception. In fact, there were five SNL players at this year’s festival! Perhaps we can thank the Just For Laughs comedy festival for joining forces with Moontower, as it definitely felt like there were more shows happening this year than ever before.
David Spade and Dana Carvey brought their Fly on the Wall podcast to Austin’s Long Center. The podcast features other SNL cast members and friends of the show. Before sitting down with current cast member James Austin Johnson, both Spade and Carvey did short intro sets.
Spade kicked things off by stating that he hadn’t been in Austin for two years – since the “humidity fest.” He also recounted a story about a homeless man recognizing him at the downtown CVS and following him for blocks, calling out his movies. Of course, the man didn’t let him go without hitting him up for money. “At what point do you call that a casual robbery,” Spade asked?
When Carvey took the stage he stated that he owes everything to Texas. That’s because three of his most iconic characters included George Bush Sr., Ross Perot and George W. Bush. He also mentioned that his best bit was about Chaney “shooting that guy in the face in Texas.”
Once Johnson joined them on stage, the trio discussed many things about Saturday Night Live, including the impressions, the politics and their fellow cast members. The guys even tried to get Johnson to discuss a classic sitcom in character as President Trump. The audience was asked for suggestions and the gal behind us hollered out, “FAKE NEWS!” The gang chose Wonder Years. Yeah, that makes more sense.
As the chatter about the role of politics on the series continued, that same woman whined to her date, “How much longer?!“ I’m guessing she’s not really a fan of SNL. Or politics. Or sobriety. Two minutes later, she celebrated the fact that her tickets were free. That tracks.
Anyway, for those of us that are, in fact, fans of the show, it was a great night. We got all those impressions mentioned above, a little bit of Choppin Broccoli, Buy-bye, Fat Guy in a Little Coat and the Church Lady.
We also learned who each of the men were/ are closest to in the cast.
Spade: Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Chris Farley and Tim Meadows.
Carvey: Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Kevin Nealon, Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller.
Johnson: Sarah Sherman.
A few nights later, we saw Johnson again at The Hideout Theater where he did a bit about The Highway Men that set the bar pretty high for his cast mates. Andrew Dismukes followed with a very disjointed set and Aristotle Athari closed out the night with one of the most confusing bits I’ve seen in years.
By the way, did you know Andrew Dismukes is a University of Texas alum? You can learn more about him here.
