Here’s how past presidents have reacted to Saturday Night Live
By Matt Moore
George W. Bush
Not until Alec Baldwin’s President Trump had Saturday Night Live‘s take on a president seemed so accurate when Will Ferrell played President George W. Bush. Like Dana Carvey’s version of George H.W. Bush, Ferrell’s version of Dubya had a strong link to the real president.
Ferrell played up President Bush’s tendency to mispronounce or misuse words. He also suggested there was some incompetence and eagerness for war in the 43rd president. As one of the show’s most popular cast members of all time it was only right that Ferrell took on the polarizing president.
President George W. Bush did not follow his father’s footsteps by ever appearing on Saturday Night Live or in public with Will Ferrell. That didn’t stop Ferrell from doing a one man show as the president or playing him again at an alternative White House Correspondent’s dinner in 2017 for Samantha Bee.
Bush was reportedly fine with Ferrell and SNL’s version of him. He must have been well prepared for it after seeing what Dana Carvey did to his father while in office. Bush himself had a reputation as a jokester. During his stop to Jimmy Kimmel Live! he said that laughing at yourself is the best humor. So it would seem unlikely that anything a sketch show did would get under his skin.
Alec Baldwin’s President Trump shares some things in common with Ferrell’s President Bush. Both are shown to have a loose grip on the English language and struggle to grasp world events. Ye the response between the real-life Trump and Bush couldn’t be more different.