The Healing Journey

February 18, 2024

“I’m kind of on the pain train.”
— Dana Carvey

Comedian Dana Carvey returned to his podcast “Fly on the Wall” with David Spade recently for the first time since his son Dex died in November. “If you’re listening to our podcast, you probably know about my family’s loss,” Carvey told listeners. “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.”

Dex, 32, died of an accidental overdose.

“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 said.

Carvey is known for seven seasons on “Saturday Night Live” from 1986 to 1993, and for film roles in “Tough Guys,” “Trapped in Paradise, “The Master of Disguise,” and the SNL spin-off “Wayne’s World.”

When his son died, Carvey put a post on Instagram that said: “Last night we suffered a terrible tragedy. Our beloved son, Dex, died of an accidental drug overdose. He was 32 years old. Dex packed a lot into those 32 years. He was extremely talented at so many things — music, art, filmmaking, comedy — and pursued all of them passionately. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Dex loved life, and when you were with him, you loved life too….We will miss him forever.”

Many people rallied around his family after their loss and he thanked them and said he, his wife and surviving son are dealing with grief in their own way.

“It’s me and my wife and our son’s private journey,” he said. “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.”

He described his grief this way: “I’m kind of on the pain train. You don’t know how long you’re going to be on it or when it will stop or when it will get better.”

The family also issued a statement that said, “Anyone struggling with addiction or who loves someone struggling with addiction, you are in our hearts and prayers.”

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