Times have changed, and standards of humor have evolved. Thus, Saturday Night Live alum Dana Carvey has apologized to Sharon Stone for an “offensive” sketch when she hosted the show in 1992.
Carvey made his amends during Stone’s appearance on the Fly on the Wall With Dana Carvey and David Spade podcast.
Carvey called Stone “such a good sport” and said the comedy moment she appeared in, if aired today, “We would be literally arrested now.”
The sketch in question was titled Airport Security Sketch. Carvey was an Indian security guard and was part of a security team that instructed Stone to remove clothing in case she was carrying dangerous items.
“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,” he said, adding, “It’s so 1992, you know, it’s from another era.”
Stone said she wasn’t bothered by the sketch, but agreed it was created in a different time.
“I know the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony,” she said. “And I think that we were all committing misdemeanors [back then] because we didn’t think 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.”
“When I was doing the Indian character… there was no malice in it,” Carvey replied. “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.”
