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Dana Carvey knew his stint on âSaturday Night Liveâ would be cut short thanks to former President Joe Biden.
The âWayneâs Worldâ actor was slated to spend six weeks in New York City to impersonate Biden at the request of the showâs head honcho, Lorne Michaels.
âLorne is very persuasive,â he tells Page Six in an exclusive interview before imitating Michaels, ââItâll be Autumn in New York ⊠and then afterwards you can tell us to fâk off.â It was like, âOK, six weeks in New York.’â
However, the 69-year-old actor thought his return to âSNLâ was over after Bidenâs disastrous June 27th Presidential debate against now-President Trump, which precipitated him dropping out of the presidential race. Weeks later, former Vice President Kamala Harris stepped up as the Democratic candidate.
âWhen that first debate was sort of going awry with President Biden, I turned to my wife and I said, âWeâre not going to New York,â during the debate,â he recalls. âThatâs absolutely true.â
And Carveyâs premonition came true ⊠to a point.
The âMasters of Disguiseâ actor got to appear in 10 episodes alongside Maya Rudolph, who was impersonating Harris, and Jim Gaffigan, who took on the role of Governor of Minnesota and Vice President-hopeful, Tim Walz.
His Biden impersonation included a familiar scratching of the face, an affectation that Carvey calls his âfavorite,â and little mannerisms that included picking up âtoys on the carpet.â
Carvey â who stresses that he likes the peope he imitates â tells us that he approached his impersonation carefully, likening it to âthreadingâ a needle to âmake it funny but not make it in any way sad or cruel.â
âIâm not trying to really make political points or put them down,â he explains. âIâm trying to find what is fun about them.â
Throughout his stint on âSNLâ from 1986 to 1993, Carvey got to impersonate another president: George H.W. Bush.
The comedian tells us that Bush, who died in 2018, loved his impersonation so much that he invited Carvey to the White House after he lost the 1992 Presidential election.
âHe calls me out of the blue in December to come to Washington, DC,â Carvey recalls.
âAnd in that moment, Iâm a young man. I just said, âWell, where would I stay?â I was already thinking about what hotel or something,â he continued. âHe paused, thought I was negotiating. âWell, stay right here in the White House with (former First Lady Barbara Bush) and I.â
Carvey hasnât left âSNLâ completely in the past as he currently co-hosts a podcast with his former co-star David Spade, where they share showbiz stories and parse the entertainment headlines.
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