Nathan Lane recalls Mickey Rooney thought Dana Carvey was gay: ‘Why don’t you tell him you’re gay?!’

Rance CollinsSun, July 12, 2026 at 7:54 PM UTC

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Dana Carvey; Nathan Lane; Mickey RooneyCredit: Paul Morigi/Getty; Tommaso Boddi/Variety via Getty; NBC / Courtesy: Everett CollectionKey Points -

Dana Carvey and Nathan Lane worked with Mickey Rooney on the short-lived 1982 sitcom, “One of the Boys.”

The Hollywood legend seemed to have a preference for Lane over Carvey, Lane and Carvey said on a recent episode of Fly on the Wall.

Rooney also insinuated that he thought Carvey was gay.

It seems that Mickey Rooney did not have a finely tuned gaydar.

One of the Boys ended up just being one of the many canceled series for the 1982 television season, but it did boast an unusual pairing of cross-generational talent.

Rooney, a legendary acting boy wonder who was crowned King of Hollywood in 1939 during the height of his Andy Hardy-fueled popularity, was cast alongside then-newcomers Nathan Lane and Dana Carvey. Lane was a theater kid with a couple of off- and on- Broadway credits to his name, which seemed to earn respect from Rooney, who was famed for his “let’s put on a show” musicals such as Babes in Arms.

Carvey, meanwhile, was more of a funnyman, known for his stand-up comedy. On screen, he only had a TV pilot and a small role in Halloween II to his credit. It was obvious from the start of production on the sitcom that Rooney had a preference.

Mickey Rooney, Dana Carvey, and Nathan Lane in a ‘One of the Boys’ episode from 1982Credit: NBC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

On the Fly on the Wall podcast, guest Lane and host Carvey related to cohost David Spade the unusual, short-lived production history of One of the Boys.

“He didn’t get how brilliantly funny you were,” Lane said. “He was more drawn to me because I seemed more old school to him.” Carvey said that Rooney would introduce Lane as a “generational talent,” in contrast to providing no qualifiers for Carvey and referring to him as “Danna Garney.”

In his seeming preference for Lane over Carvey, Rooney began insinuating what he perceived to be Carvey’s sexual orientation.

“And then there was this strange thing that he, I think, started to make an assumption that Dana might be gay,” Lane remembered. “Dana was blond and, occasionally, for comedic purposes, a little flamboyant, and so he decided that Dana might be gay.”

‘One of the Boys’ starred Dana Carvey and Nathan LaneCredit: NBC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Of course, the irony is that Lane was indeed gay, although he apparently never told Rooney.

“Dana, at one point in frustration, said to me, ‘Why don’t you tell him you’re gay?’ And I said, ‘Why should I break, you know, America’s sweetheart’s heart by telling him that, when this [series] is going to go no further than 13 episodes?”

Carvey reminded Lane of a specific instance where Rooney inferred Carvey’s supposed orientation. “He put his arm around you. He looked at me, and he said, quote: ‘I’m just glad we like girls.’ Direct quote,” Carvey recalled with a laugh.

The show would indeed only last 13 episodes, which aired between January and April of 1982 on NBC. It followed a grandfather (Rooney) moving in with his college-aged grandson (Carvey) and his roommate (Lane). Scatman Crothers and Francine Beers rounded out the regular cast, while future star Meg Ryan had a recurring role. Even though Lane and Carvey described the series in less-than-glowing terms, Rooney seemed to be convinced it would be a hit.

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While filming the pilot, according to Lane, Rooney said quietly to Lane and Carvey sitting backstage, “This is going to be the biggest show in the history of television.” He thought that the show would be so huge, apparently, that there would be merchandising in the form of lunch boxes, T-shirts, and a “stage version of the TV show” performed during their hiatuses.

Lane said he thought in the moment but didn’t say aloud, “He’ll be lucky if they don’t cancel this in the middle of filming this fucking pilot.”

Rooney also, apparently, would often reference his Old Hollywood past, voicing complaints like, according to Lane, “Ike and Tina Turner made a zillion dollars last year, but Judy Garland died a pauper.”

Dana Carvey added, “He did it every day. He had different entry points. You’re walking down the hallway in the morning to rehearse or whatever [and he’d say], ‘Judy Garland never owned a car!’”

“‘Clark Gable only had one testicle!’” Lane chimed in with a Rooney impression.

“‘How long has Robert Redford been in the business? I’ve been in the business 62 years!’ It was like three months short of his actual age,” Carvey continued with his own impersonation.

“It was a severe case of arrested development,” Lane said.

During a previous Fly on the Wallepisode, Carvey discussed how Rooney would taunt him with cash.

“He got flushed. He was doing Sugar Babies on Broadway getting $50,000 a week, and then the TV show, they were giving him $50,000 a week, and he’d been broke for decades,” Carvey said in 2023. “So he always carried like, $5,000 with him in cash, and he’d put it under my face and go, ‘Think I can afford lunch?’”

He added that Rooney would repeatedly say “every 45 minutes” that he was “‘the number one star in the world. You hear me? Bang. The world.’” “Mickey was 62 when I worked with him, had an incredible amount of energy, and he was very, very bitter, and he lived to 95. So bitterness won’t kill you,” Carvey surmised.

Lane came out in 1999 in an interview with The Advocate, though he had already played a gay character to great acclaim in the hit movie The Birdcage. In a 2009 reflective interview with the publication, Lane discussed the impact of being open about his sexuality.

“It was important for me personally; I wasn’t doing it for anybody else but me. Even if people cynically look at you and say, ‘Oh, yeah, we already knew, there’s no news here,’ it’s still worth doing, especially for the young folks out there who are looking for a role model or examples of someone who is successful and openly gay,” Lane said. “I’ve had letters from young guys who have written to say, ‘I look up to you for what you’ve done,’ and that’s always incredibly moving. When you read something like that, you realize that you can have a positive effect, even if it’s only on a few people.”

Watch the full Fly on the Wall episode below.

on Entertainment Weekly

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