Comedian Dana Carvey recently described his portrayal of now-former President Joe Biden on “Saturday Night Live” during the 2024 presidential election as “surreal,” “bizarre” and “at times a lot of fun.”
Speaking on the latest episode of his “Fly On The Wall” podcast, co-hosted with actors Julie Bowen and David Spade, Carvey also discussed the challenges he faced satirizing Biden amid concerns over the then-president’s cognitive fitness, an issue which came starkly to the fore during his disastrous debate against GOP rival Donald Trump, and which ultimately led him to abandon his reelection campaign.
Bowen asked: “Do you now, now that you know that Biden is severely diminished, do you feel any guilt or insight into your portrayal?”
Carvey replied: “I knew that he was compromised mentally. I mean, it was obvious to me. But it was a delicate thing in the comedy world. There were a lot of people who did not want to do anything that would kind of ding him in like an awkward way.”
Bowen pointed out that “it’s comedy.”
Carvey agreed: “That’s it, that’s the key. If I can do Biden, if I can make Biden funny to everybody, then I am where I want to be. And then to make it funny, it had to be recognizable. So there were certain things I did not include in my package.”
Carvey noted that, unlike President Donald Trump or former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, Biden didn’t initially have the same “pop or energy.”
But over time, Carvey said Biden slowly transformed ― morphing from “Sweet Joe” to whispering and yelling and then into a “defiant ’50s guy” ― which made him one of his favorite people to impersonate.
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