Dana Carvey Returns to Work After Son’s Death and Calls ‘Riffing’ With David Spade on Their Podcast ‘Very Healthy’; Chris Farley’s Mom Wrote Him a Letter of Support
Dana Carvey has returned to the “Fly on the Wall” podcast for the first time since his son, Dex, died last fall (via Entertainment Weekly). The podcast is jointly hosted by Carvey and David Spade and features the “Saturday Night Live” alums telling behind-the-scenes stories from their time on the NBC sketch comedy series. In Carvey’s absence, the podcast aired previously recorded interviews with the likes of Dan Aykroyd, David Byrne and more with only Spade as host. The new episode did without any guests and featured Carvey opening up to Spade about his return.
“If you’re listening to our podcast, you probably know about my family’s loss,” Carvey said at the start of the episode. “I just wanted to say that the amount of outpouring online and emailing and people I still haven’t been able to call back is incredible.”
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“I thought about this over the holidays and decided to come back to the podcast because I think, you know, it’s a long day when you’re not working and you get in your head,” he continued. “And I think it’s going to be a great break, and I think it’s really cool to laugh.”
Dex’s death was announced on Instagram by Carvey on Nov. 18. The “SNL” star confirmed the family “suffered a terrible tragedy” and that Dex “died of an accidental drug overdose” at 32 years old.
“Dex packed a lot into those 32 years,” Carvey wrote on social media at the time. “He was extremely talented at so many things — music, art, filmmaking, comedy — and pursued all of them passionately.”
Carvey said he received an overwhelming amount of support in the wake of his son’s death. Current “SNL” star Colin Jost paid tribute to him during a late-November episode of the series in which he ended the “Weekend Update” segment by saying, “We love you, Dana and Paula.”
“There was so much goodwill out there that was going through me to tell you,” Spade told Carvey during the episode. “Even Mrs. Farley, Chris’ mom, wrote a letter for me to give to you.”
“It’s very sweet,” Carvey said of the support. “It’s me and my wife and our son’s private journey. We’re all together. We do a lot of fun things. We hike, go to church, you just want to be sure that you keep moving.”
Carvey added that another reason he wanted to return to the “Fly on the Wall” podcast is because “riffing” with Spade is “healthy” for his emotional recovery.
“I’m kind of on the pain train,” he said. “You don’t know how long you’re going to be on it or when it will stop or when it will get better. In the meantime, all this kind of stuff is very healthy.”
Listen to full episodes of the “Fly on the Wall” podcast here.
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