25 of the Best Political Impersonations on Saturday Night Live

17. Dan Aykroyd as Jimmy Carter

Not all the political impressions have come from the last few years. Even back in Aykroyd’s day, they had them. And that’s why his impression of Jimmy Carter has made the cut. Mainly because it is so weird and so out of the normal Dan Aykroyd we all know and love.

With Dan, most of us in the 21st century only know him from his work in The Blues Brothers and countless other films and television programs. But seeing a young Dan doing his best Jimmy Carter makes it easy to choose him as one of the greats. It’s not perfect (no impression is) but it is fun.

That’s the important part about all of these impersonations. They have to be fun. If they’re not, what’s the point of even doing them? As stated before, an impression that is perfect can be boring. You have to bring the life and humor to it. And Dan does. With a voice that doesn’t quite match Carter’s, he is giving us this weird caricature of our former president.

But it works. I don’t know why and it’s hard to explain but Dan brings something to Jimmy Carter that just makes him one of the greatest in SNL‘s history of political impressions.