With the passing of George H.W. Bush, it’s a good opportunity to revisit the classic impression of the 41st president during a golden era on Saturday Night Live.
And The Atlantic is paying tribute.
Dana Carvey, who impersonated Bush on the sketch comedy show from 1986 through 1993, had his work seemingly cut out for him, considering his subject didn’t have the larger-than-life or scandalous attributions that would make lampooning easy. So Carvey worked at it, studying the mannerisms and speech patterns, and delivered such a nuanced result that it stands in stark contrast with Alec Baldwin’s blunt buffoonery that passes as a Trump impression on the current SNL.
Carvey himself revealed that he channeled both Mister Rogers and John Wayne to find that magic alchemy.
“Compared with the high-concept, star-laden political sketches of SNL today, it seems tame,” writes The Atlantic‘s David Sims.
“Yet Carvey skewered Bush with the little details, making him an eye-roll-worthy ’80s dad who claimed to have all the answers to the country’s problems but largely obsessed over what was or wasn’t ‘prudent,’ tossing in a few vague hand gestures.”
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