It was in the fall of 1986 that Saturday Night Live viewers first encountered the Church Lady, that frumpy Satanphobe who regularly pillaged celebrity guests with her dismissive utterance, "Isn't that special?" and who performed a peculiar terpsichoreal rite dubbed the superior dance. The lady in question was no lady at all but boyish funnyman Dana Carvey, whose turns in drag contributed to a resurrection in ratings for a show many had consigned to perdition.

Producer Lorne Michaels had spotted Carvey working in an L.A. club and invited him to bring his repertory of characters and impressions to a then-rebuilding S.N.L. Church Lady, though not performed in drag in Carvey's stand-up act, was part of a motley crew that now includes Hans, the muscular Austrian Fitnessfürhrer, burned out rock star Derrick Stevens, Ching Change, the Oriental live-poultry aficionado, George Bush and Jimmy Stewart.

An overnight success after ten years in comedy clubs and what he terms "misfired sitcoms," Carvey assumed the Saturday Night Live star mantle previously worn by Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi and Eddie Murphy. Carvey is now treading what he calls the "clichéed comic-career track" those comedians followed: clubs to television to movies. Earlier this year he starred in Opportunity Knocks, and he's currently filming Beverly Hills Ninja.

Warren Kalbacker visited Carvey at his New York apartment between S.N.L. rehearsals. He reports: I set up my tape recorder and the telephone rang. It was for me. Fellow S.N.L. cast member Jon Lovitz was calling to warn that Carvey was a 'compulsive liar' about his prowess at pool. I'd never done an interview in which the truthfulness of the subject was impugned right at the start. But I decided to go ahead, anyway. As Carvey's weight lifter Hans might say, "I'd hear him now and maybe believe him later"

Q 1

PLAYBOY: Who hustles whom at the pool table?

Dana Carvey: When Jon Lovitz and I play, it's the Church Lady versus the Liar. I strip him of his manhood. I'm the teacher; he's the student. Basically, I destroy him. It's probably a way of channeling career competition. We found this twenty-four-hour pool hall on Sixteenth Street. It's a good way to wind down. We're paid to be animals on the air and we're always up till four or five after the show. And on Sunday, you're a total zombie. No matter how much you think you're relaxed about the show, it always fucks with your head.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: What deadly sins are committed backstage at Saturday Night Live?

Dana Carvey: There's fighting, jealousy, competition and aggressiveness--but apparently less than with any other cast. People from other years tell us we get along great. It's a more harmonious group. Lorne Michaels master-planned that. He passed up a lot of people who were maybe more talented than us but who might have been constantly pissed off at one another. We've really come together as a cast in the past year and a half. We have a certain sense of pride. Everyone said the show sucked, pull the plug. And then we came in and hit pay dirt.

Q 3

PLAYBOY: Isn't Dana Carvey special?

Dana Carvey: I hate people who think they're superior and special. I know what it's like to be on your hands and knees and ordered around and treated like an idiot. When I was a bus boy at the Holiday Inn near the Circle Star Theater in my home town of San Carlos, California, I waited on Michael Jackson and the whole Jackson family for a week. I was there in the hall with pancake syrup all over me and they'd say, "Hey, come here and get this tray." I always took Michael a plate of raw carrots before he went on stage. He would never look up at me. Actually, they were pretty good tippers, usually fifteen percent plus. But if they forgot to add on a tip, I'd sign a big one for myself. No big deal. Now, whenever I hear a Michael Jackson song, I get a craving for carrots. I don't know what that means. I guess it worked out real well for him, kept his body-fat percentage real low. Which is what I envy most about him.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: Do you worry that the Church Lady might possess the soul or, worse, the career of Dana Carvey?

Dana Carvey: It was a concern. It was like I was the Church Lady. I played a stand-up concert one night and looked at the marquee and it said, CHURCH LADY. And I was doing an hour of stand-up as myself and maybe five minutes of Church Lady. I couldn't prevent it; it was working so well. And it was helping the show. But I definitely had a complex about it. And for an entire year, she basically disappeared. During that time, I did Hans and George Bush and George Michael and appeared in Wayne's World. People now seem to know me a little more, so I don't feel so overwhelmed by the Church Lady anymore. I enjoy doing her more now. And the Church Lady can comment on the religious and political issues that loom about; say, if she has Ozzy Osbourne and Cardinal O'Connor on her show discussing satanic influences in music.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: Has the Church Lady achieved life everlasting?

Dana Carvey: She's immortal. She's too stubborn to die. She's relentless. She's powerful. When she's on the show, there's a definite bump up in the ratings. She's a real lady. She's not a man in a dress. There are some like her in trailer parks in Arkansas.