Dana Carvey Makes SNL History With Church Lady Return

Dana Carvey as The Church Lady — Screenshot: NBC

With this week’s cold open, Dana Carvey‘s Church Lady became the first character to log appearances on Saturday Night Live across five separate decades.

Developed by Dana Carvey as part of his standup act, the character debuted on SNL October 11th, 1986, during the show’s 12th season premiere (Carvey’s very first episode).

The Church Lady (originally introduced as Enid Strict) went on to appear on the show eighteen times during Carvey’s tenure as an SNL cast member, returning for guest appearances in 1996, 2000, 2011, and twice in 2016.

While no other SNL character has appeared on the show across five decades, the length of time between The Church Lady’s first and most recent appearance (38 years and two months) is not the longest.

Eddie Murphy‘s 2019 return as Mr Robinson (of “Mr Robinson’s Neighborhood”) came 38 years and ten months after the character’s first SNL appearance, tying Dan Aykroyd and Laraine Newman‘s reprise of their “Super Bass-O-Matic” sketch at SNL’s 40th anniversary special. (And if you count Bobby Moynihan’s portrayal of the Land Shark during the same special, that character holds the record at 39 years, two months.)

Carvey has now appeared in each of Season 50’s first eight episodes, portraying Joe Biden, Elon Musk, and Jennifer Coolidge.

This week’s episode was the first to see the SNL alum reprise one of his classic characters, as The Church Lady welcomed (perhaps that’s a strong word) Matt Gaetz (Sarah Sherman), Juan Soto (Marcello Hernández) and Hunter Biden to Church Chat. Playing the younger Biden was Carvey’s podcast co-host David Spade, making his first appearance on SNL proper since hosting the show in 2005.