25 of the Best Political Impersonations on Saturday Night Live

22. Dana Carvey as George H.W. Bush

“It’s bad, it’s bad,” was something that George H. W. Bush said once. But Dana Carvey made it so famous that many believed it was something he had said over and over again. Honestly, that is part of the power of a good impression. If people start to believe the impersonation over the actual person, you’re doing something right.

With Dana, he was always a man of characters. Remember that terrible movie Master of Disguise? Well, it was based on a character by Dana but also describes the man himself. And this impression got him spots on so many other shows pretending to be Bush as well.

From the hand gestures to the accent and everything in between, Carvey just did a great job as Bush. It is so easy for these presidents to be caricatures that are extremely overdone but the greats take the little things and just blend them into their impressions.

Dana and Will Ferrell just did phenomenal jobs playing the father and son. They even did it together a few times. Because the two just knew how to not make these men into outrageous shells of who they really were. They kept the basis of both George H. W and George W and then just made each man their own. And it is truly something amazing to watch.