'Wayne's World' Star Dana Carvey Confirms 'Very Strange' 9/11 Story, Recalls Group Prayer on Set
The “wild rumor” is true.
Dana Carvey just confirmed that yes, he really was wearing an outlandish green turtle costume when he joined hands and prayed with the cast and crew of a movie right after 9/11 happened, as reported by numerous entertainment and news outlets this week, including “Outkick.”
Carvey is an actor and comedian perhaps best known for starring on “Saturday Night Live” in the 1980s and ’90s, featuring characters he created for “Church Chat” and “Wayne’s World” sketches (the latter was made into a feature film in 1992).
He was recording a “Fly on the Wall” podcast, which he co-hosts with David Spade, last week when he brought up a “controversy going around” concerning the incident that took place on Sept. 11, 2001.
WARNING: The following podcast includes language the listener may find offensive
Spade chimed in and said the subject came up recently after he saw a discussion about it on Twitter and sent the post to Carvey.
At the time, “I was shooting a movie called ‘Master of Disguise,'” Carvey explained.
“And I was playing — if you’ve seen the movie, kids — the Turtle Man, with a bald cap and a weird thing on my lip and a big, green shell outfit on.
“I was in it all that day, and then they said we were going to have a group prayer about 9/11.”
Carvey wanted to be there, but he said there simply was no time to remove his costume before the event.
“I would have held everyone up for a half-hour getting all that prosthetic makeup [off],” he said.
“So, as I remember it, there was all of us, everyone else in civilian clothes, and I’m dressed as the Turtle Man with the bald head, and I’m holding hands, and I’m lowering my head and praying, and I just thought, at the moment, ‘This is really strange.'”
“It’s very ridiculous,” Spade agreed. “And also, that even someone would repeat that dumb story.”
“I just thought at the moment, ‘This is really strange.'”
Legendary comedian Dana Carvey revealed the rumor he participated in a 9/11 prayer group dressed as a turtle while on the set of a movie is TRUE.https://t.co/M8Atazbg2I
— OutKick (@Outkick) April 6, 2023
Interestingly, Carvey does not have a well-documented history of being a spiritual guy — far from it, actually.
In fact, he rose to fame in part for portraying the “Church Lady” on “Saturday Night Live,” dressed as a poufy-haired older woman who made cutting left-wing political commentary while sitting piously in front of a stained-glass window. The character routinely took jabs at conservative Christian values and at least once literally referred to GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas as “Satan.”
So why would Carvey voluntarily bring up a long-ago incident involving a group prayer during the making of one of his more obscure projects — a film that the New York Post said is considered “one of the worst films ever made”?
After all, as co-hosts of the podcast, Carvey and Spade can set the agenda and talk about anything they want.
Cynics and critics may view their discussion as an attempt at damage control — a way of assuring hip young wokesters who may have seen that social media chatter that Carvey is not secretly one of those Bible-thumping religious types.
These days, politicians and movie stars can easily see their careers come crashing to a halt over a social media post, an offhand comment or even an old high school yearbook photo. The left particularly enjoys painting Christian celebrities as gay-bashing haters.
That certainly makes it possible that Carvey and Spade brought up this anecdote so Carvey could distance himself from any kind of profession of faith in God by poking fun at the incident using words like “strange” and “ridiculous” and “dumb.”
If that’s true, it would be a shame. Because the scenario Carvey described in that anecdote hearkens back to an incredible moment in America’s history that should not be erased, rewritten or mocked.
It’s important for those who were not born at the time, or who are not old enough to remember that horrific event, to understand the change that came over Americans immediately after the 9/11 attacks.
There was a common, unifying set of emotions that swept the country after terrorists attacked multiple sites in the eastern U.S., crashing jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and elsewhere, killing thousands and changing life here forever.
Adults who never cried in public were seen sobbing openly in office buildings, on street corners, in grocery stores — wherever they happened to be — and nobody thought less of them for doing so.
People who had never been never particularly patriotic all of a sudden started flying the Stars and Stripes and singing “God Bless America.”
And lots and lots of people who rarely, if ever, darkened the door of a church suddenly found themselves joining hands, bowing their heads and praying.
That’s the paradox of 9/11. It was an effort to tear us down, to make us feel weaker, but it actually had the opposite effect: It drew us closer and made us stronger.
Some may want to look back and joke about how “strange” and “ridiculous” and “dumb” their reactions were.
But many of us fervently wish we could once again experience the unity, patriotism and faith we had in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 — obviously sans the death and destruction.
Because it was one of those increasingly rare times when America truly seemed to be One Nation Under God.
And that’s not strange or ridiculous or dumb at all.
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