Why Dana Carvey skipped the SNL 50 special despite recent appearances as Joe Biden

Carvey was an SNL cast member from 1986 to 1993

Dana Carvey last year returned to Saturday Night Live to play President Joe Biden and revive his Church Lady character.

The 69-year-old comedian and actor was an SNL cast member from 1986 to 1993, yet he was notably absent from this weekend’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

Variety reports that Carvey came down with a “bad flu” and was too sick to attend.

Other notable former cast members who missed the star-studded event were Bill Hader, who reportedly had a “longstanding scheduling conflict”, and Dan Aykroyd, who also had “prior commitments.”

Aykroyd did praise the event on X, writing: “Cracking a Head with pride at having been a co-founder of SNL along with everyone we were together with in those four years, five decades ago.

“This telecast is as historical as the next moon landing. Comedy stars of our age all gathered under the aegis of America’s greatest living impresario, my boss Lorne Michaels. People it’s friggin’ Holy!!”

Dana Carvey as Enid Strict, better known as ‘The Church Lady’, on ‘SNL’ (Saturday Night Live YouTube)

Last December, Carvey returned to Saturday Night Live to play his ‘Church Lady’ character, Enid Strict, in a sketch roasting “poor little” Matt Gaetz and Hunter Biden.

In the sketch, Church Lady labeled 2024 “the most satanic year in history” before calling former MAGA lawmaker Gaetz, played by Sarah Sherman, to the stage.

The Florida Republican had been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as Attorney General but, days later, removed himself from consideration amid intense scrutiny over a House Ethics Committee inquiry regarding allegations of wrongdoing, including claims he had sex with a 17-year-old girl. Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

The House committee was set to release a bombshell report on its findings two days after Trump tapped Gaetz, but Gaetz’s nomination led him to resign from the House, effectively ending the probe.

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Sherman and Carvey were quick to joke about the situation.

“You were involved in some little sexual peccadillos, and they wrote a whole report about it, but somehow we never got to see it, did we? Isn’t that convenient,” Carvey’s Church Lady quipped.

“Poor little Matt Gaetz, you better repent, Matt, there’s only 17 days left in Christmas,” Carvey added.

“You had me at 17,” Sherman’s Gaetz said – a reference to the age of the girl at the center of the allegations against him.

Next up to see Church Lady was David Spade playing President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

“They singled me out just because of who I am,” Spade’s Hunter complained to Church Lady about his situation.

“Much like Trump, they went after me because of my last name and all the illegal things I did.”