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Fatherhood Quote by Dana Carvey

"I have no regrets. I wanted to raise the kids and be a present father. When I developed a movie, I was gone for a year. That didn't really work for me. That isn't fair to make these life-forms and then disappear"

About this Quote

Carvey’s comedy has always been about possession: the way a voice, a posture, a catchphrase can take over a room. Here, he flips that instinct inward, staking a claim on the one role he refuses to parody. “I have no regrets” isn’t bravado; it’s a preemptive defense against the cultural script that treats fame as destiny and constant output as virtue. For a comedian whose peak coincided with the era of blockbuster star-making and omnipresent press, choosing absence from the industry reads like heresy.

The line that does the real work is logistical, almost boring on purpose: “When I developed a movie, I was gone for a year.” He demystifies Hollywood by reducing it to time stolen in bulk. No red carpets, no “passion projects” - just the blunt arithmetic of an industry that demands total immersion and calls it opportunity. The subtext is that success doesn’t merely cost you weekends; it can cost you continuity, the mundane repetitions that make a parent recognizable to their children.

Then he lands the moral punch with a comic’s instinct for phrasing: “life-forms.” It’s funny, slightly alien, distancing - and that’s precisely why it hits. He uses a sci-fi noun to dodge sentimentality while smuggling it in anyway: kids are miraculous, strange, not-to-be-taken-for-granted. “That isn’t fair” reframes fatherhood as an ethical contract, not a feeling. Carvey isn’t selling domestic bliss; he’s indicting a system that normalizes creating lives and then outsourcing your presence.

Quote Details

TopicFather
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Carvey, Dana. (2026, January 14). I have no regrets. I wanted to raise the kids and be a present father. When I developed a movie, I was gone for a year. That didn't really work for me. That isn't fair to make these life-forms and then disappear. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-no-regrets-i-wanted-to-raise-the-kids-and-173482/

Chicago Style
Carvey, Dana. "I have no regrets. I wanted to raise the kids and be a present father. When I developed a movie, I was gone for a year. That didn't really work for me. That isn't fair to make these life-forms and then disappear." FixQuotes. January 14, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-no-regrets-i-wanted-to-raise-the-kids-and-173482/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I have no regrets. I wanted to raise the kids and be a present father. When I developed a movie, I was gone for a year. That didn't really work for me. That isn't fair to make these life-forms and then disappear." FixQuotes, 14 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-have-no-regrets-i-wanted-to-raise-the-kids-and-173482/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.

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About the Author

Dana Carvey

Dana Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is a Comedian from USA.

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