What a Failed Comedy Sketch Show Documentary Taught Me About Life

(So about this photo…lol. I needed an image to include in this post and this was the first one that popped up in my media library when I typed “Danielle.”)

Since I cut my cable about six months ago, I’ve been watching A LOT of documentaries, binge-watching tons of old TV shows, comedy specials, and yes, if you follow me on IG or have had a conversation with me in person recently, a LOT of crime shows…lol. But the other night I watched Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of The Dana Carvey Show on Hulu. I’m not sure what made me watch because I TOTALLY do not remember this show AT ALL. But I guess since I was coming of age when Dana Carvey was on SNL (many of his sketches are the ones I remember staying up late to watch when I was a kid), it seemed familiar to me so I gave it a whirl. Glad I did.

Remember in my post about The Momference I mentioned how one of the panelists talked about failing fast? I think that’s really what made me intrigued enough to watch this documentary. Not going to lie, there’s a good portion of it that I don’t care for, but the point is the parts that did.

So again, I seriously do not remember this show AT ALL. And that says a lot because I was about 15 at the time and if I wasn’t watching most shows, I at least heard of the ones I didn’t watch. Meh. But this was the show Dana Carvey did after his highly acclaimed stint on SNL. Everyone was banking on this show to do well—it had some of the best comedy writers of the time—and the joint failed. After eight episodes. And they didn’t even air the eighth episode…lol.

What started to really draw me in though was that some of the “unknown” comedic actors that were scouted for the show included Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell. One part showed how right before he got the call to audition for The Dana Carvey Show, both Stephen Colbert and his wife were unemployed AND they had a new baby. He was really banking on getting this job (I mean, it was a network television show—he just knew he’d have continuous checks coming in) and he got the job only for it to be cancelled after eight episodes. But seeing how successful both Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell have become now, inspired me. They were putting the work in for YEAAAAARS. And man, was a lot of this stuff they were putting out back then corny AF…lol. It also reminded me that there is no schedule to follow in life. So many times you hear things like “so and so became a millionaire by 30” or “so and so bought their first house at 19.” THERE IS NO RUSH. These men are nearing 60. Now granted, they are white men and there are of course different playing fields for them than there is for me, a Black woman, I still found the inspiration.

Then there was the part about what happened after the show was cancelled. Naturally everyone went through their own unique challenges and triumphs after the cancellation, but they reveal how Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell essentially got hired for The Daily Show based on a really dumb sketch they were both in on The Dana Carvey Show. Lesson learned: YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS WATCHING. I mean, I knew this already because many of the amazing things I’m able to do is because someone saw me put in the work here on my blog and social channels. But girl, you do not know who is watching you put in that work, so continue to put in that work.

Another thing? NETWORK. I used to HATE networking because with my background in financial sales, often times networking meant I had to produce some sort of lead or sale DIRECTLY AFTER the networking. I felt like I had to be all sales-pitchy on folks. But as I’ve been around more and have gone to hundreds of beauty and fashion events, I’ve learned that networking is a never-ending process. You can’t meet the CEO of a beauty company one day and expect to be working with them the next day. To me, networking is basically the ongoing process of having interactions with people and building rapport. It’s like professional “dating” if you will. You get to know people bit by bit—I mean, you don’t meet a potential suitor on the first date and then suggest marriage by the next week, right? That’s how I view networking. You can even be networking within your own network of friends, too. In the documentary Steve Carell credits The Dana Carvey Show creators Dana Carvey and Robert Smigel for his future successes (40 Year Old Virgin, The Office, etc). You never know who the person is now that may change your life forever.

I mean, look at how I was randomly suggested this documentary by Hulu (ok maybe not randomly since I had watched a Barbie documentary as well as a CNN documentary on the history of comedy…lol) but that couldn’t have been by chance. I believe the universe needed me to see that especially as I’m thinking about my next career moves.

Have you ever learned a lesson from a super random place? Tell me about it in the comments!