Too Funny to Fail

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = Too Funny to Fail:<br>The Life & Death of<br>The Dana Carvey Show | image = TooFunnyToFailPoster.jpg | director = Josh Greenbaum | producer = {{Plainlist| * Josh Greenbaum * Rafael Marmor * Christopher Leggett }} | writer = Josh Greenbaum | screenplay = | story = | based_on = | starring = {{Plainlist| * Dana Carvey * Steve Carell * Stephen Colbert * Robert Smigel }} | narrator = | music = John Piscitello | cinematography = | editing = Billy McMillin | studio = Delirio Films | distributor = Hulu | released = {{Film date|2017|10|21}} | runtime = 95 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of The Dana Carvey Show''''' is an American documentary film that premiered on Hulu on October 21, 2017. Directed, written and produced by Josh Greenbaum, it explores the creation of ''The Dana Carvey Show'', how its creative team was assembled, and how the show ultimately came to be cancelled.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Barton|first1=Chris|title=Hulu's 'Too Funny to Fail' looks at the legacy of the doomed 'Dana Carvey Show'|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-st-too-funny-to-fail-hulu-review-20171021-story.html|website=The Los Angeles Times|accessdate=October 23, 2017|date=October 20, 2017}}</ref>

==Production== The documentary features interviews with: {{Cast listing| * Dana Carvey * Steve Carell * Stephen Colbert * Robert Smigel * Heather Morgan * Bill Chott * Bill Hader * John Fortenberry * Robert Carlock * Jon Glaser * Spike Feresten * J. J. Sedelmaier * Chuck Dalaklis * Howard Rosenberg * Ted Harbert * John Atkinson }}

Cast members Louis C.K. and Charlie Kaufman only appear in archive footage.

==Reception== ''Too Funny To Fail'' was met with a positive response from critics upon its premiere. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 7.5 out of 10 based on 18 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Offering a detailed and highly entertaining oral history of the failed ''Dana Carvey Show'', ''Too Funny to Fail'' is too funny to be missed."<ref name="recognition">{{cite web|title=Too Funny To Fail|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/too_funny_to_fail/|website=Rotten Tomatoes|publisher=Fandango Media|accessdate=January 19, 2023|language=en}}</ref>

In a positive review, ''The New York Times''{{'}} Margaret Lyons praised the film saying, "As sweetheart hagiographies go, the doc is joyous and funny. No one seems bitter or cynical, and the movie is less an excavation and more just a sublime collection of hilarious people speaking thoughtfully about silly clips from 20 years ago."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lyons |first1=Margaret |title=Review: 'The Dana Carvey Show' Was Doomed. 'Too Funny to Fail' Explains Why. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/arts/television/too-funny-to-fail-dana-carvey-show-review-hulu.html |website=The New York Times |accessdate=October 7, 2018 |language=en |date=October 20, 2017}}</ref> In another favorable critique, ''NPR''{{'}}s David Bianculli commended the film saying, "''Too Funny To Fail'' on its own terms is entertaining and enlightening from beginning to end."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bianculli |first1=David |title=New Documentary Explores The Spectacular Failure Of 'The Dana Carvey Show' |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/10/19/558780217/new-documentary-explores-the-spectacular-failure-of-the-dana-carvey-show |website=NPR |accessdate=October 7, 2018 |language=en |date=October 19, 2017}}</ref> In a further approving analysis, ''The New Yorker''{{'}}s Ian Crouch lauded the film's tone saying, "the documentary itself is a rare thing: a movie about comedy that is, itself, actually funny."<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Crouch |first1=Ian |title=The Unfortunate Genius of "The Dana Carvey Show" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-unfortunate-genius-of-the-dana-carvey-show |magazine=The New Yorker |accessdate=October 7, 2018 |date=October 23, 2017}}</ref> In a more mixed assessment, ''Uproxx''{{'}}s Steven Hyden criticized the structure of the film and its lack of interviews with key members of the show's crew saying, "''Too Funny To Fail'' is a little too straightforward, dispensing the story in the conventional journalistic style of a 60 Minutes report. And the failure to land interviews with Louis C.K. and Charlie Kaufman — the former was a pivotal guiding force, the latter was a nebbish outlier on the writing staff who later applied his meta genius to meta-genius films — makes the documentary feel a little incomplete."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hyden |first1=Steven |title='Too Funny To Fail' Spotlights The Weird Run of 'The Dana Carvey Show' |url=https://uproxx.com/tv/too-funny-to-fail-the-dana-carvey-show-review/2/ |website=Uproxx |accessdate=October 7, 2018 |date=October 20, 2017}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|7544820}} *{{Hulu movie}}

Category:American documentary films Category:Dana Carvey Category:Documentary films about television Category:Films directed by Josh Greenbaum Category:Films produced by Josh Greenbaum Category:Films produced by Christopher Leggett Category:Hulu original films Category:2017 documentary films Category:2017 films Category:2017 English-language films Category:2017 American films Category:English-language documentary films