Saturday Night Live is one of the best sketch comedy shows of all time, and over the years some of SNL’s most popular sketches have definitely tested the limits with sometimes-controversial humor. With time, it can become obvious that things went too far, and Dana Carvey apologized to Sharon Stone for a sketch during her 1992 guest-hosting stint in which he played an Indian man who asked Stone to take off her clothes to get through airport security.
What’s considered humorous changes with time, and Dana Carvey acknowledged on the podcast Fly on the Wall that he would be “literally arrested” now if he participated in the “Airport Security Check” sketch that he was a part of during Sharon Stone’s appearance. Carvey said:
I want to apologize publicly for the ‘Security Check’ sketch where I played an Indian man and we’re convincing Sharon, her character or whatever, to take her clothes off to go through the security thing. It’s so 1992. It’s from another era.
Podcast co-host David Spade agreed the sketch was “so offensive,” in how the airport security team — which comprised characters by Dana Carvey, Rob Schneider and Kevin Nealon — asked the Basic Instinct actress to remove her jacket, stockings and ultimately her shirt.
Sharon Stone offered grace in response, telling the comedians:
I know the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony, and I think that we were all committing misdemeanors because we didn’t think that there was something wrong then. We didn’t have this sense. I had much bigger problems than that, you know what I mean? That was funny to me. I didn’t care. I was fine being the butt of the joke.
The actress, indeed, had likely seen bigger problems earlier that evening, as she also recalled on the podcast how people had stormed the stage saying they were going to kill her as she prepared to give her monologue. Sharon Stone also commented on the state of comedy as a whole, lamenting that this “weird and precious time” has people putting up boundaries, and everyone is so afraid that “people can’t be normal with each other anymore.”
Dana Carvey reiterated that he intended no harm — either through his portrayal of an Indian man or his character’s actions — and praised Sharon Stone for her performance. He told her:
There was no malice in it. It was really me rhythmically trying to get laughs. So I just want to say that watching it — comedy needs a straight person and you were perfect in it. You were completely sincere and you made us funny.
The podcast hosts called Sharon Stone a “good sport,” and it’s good to know that she hadn’t felt uncomfortable with the sketch back when she did it. However, as David Spade and Dana Carvey pointed out, we’re unlikely to see anything of that nature happen in SNL’s current age.
Up next on Saturday Night Live, Ramy Youssef will host at 11:30 p.m. ET March 30 on NBC with musical guest Travis Scott. The show can also be streamed with a Peacock subscription. Be sure to check out the other upcoming SNL hosts, as well as all of the other upcoming premieres with our 2024 TV schedule.
