Dana Carvey has a knack for impersonating politicians, but don’t expect to see a bit mocking President Obama on his tour this summer. Apparently, Carvey can’t quite get Obama right because he isn’t a “walking, talking cartoon.”
Carvey’s fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus, Dennis Miller, will join him for a show in Washington D.C. this weekend. Since their SNL glory days, Miller has become the host of his own, self-titled radio show and is a frequent guest on Fox News. Carvey claims that he “rides both sides” when it comes to politics, but his presidential impersonations have always been notable. George H.W. Bush even invited him to the White House after seeing his wildly popular impression of him on SNL.
With their combined political background, you would expect their show to weigh heavily on political satire, but according to Carvey it won’t be a focal point. He claims that he can’t successfully execute an impression of President Obama.
“When we had the Southerners in there — [George] W. [Bush]and [Bill] Clinton — it was more of a ready-made, kind of like Sarah Palin or like Ross Perot,” Carvey said in a phone interview with the Washington Post. “With Obama, the problem wasn’t just that he was a Northerner, but that this guy was not a walking, talking cartoon — so what are we going to do?”
In 2012, Carvey took a crack at an Obama impersonation on the late-night talk show, Conan. He mixed it in with impressions of George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan (which could use some work.)
When Conan O’Brien asked Carvey about his thoughts on the 2012 election, he answered using a pretty spot-on impression of Obama.
“I think he [Obama] is doing fine because he can really, really talk,” said Carvey in character. “And the Republicans have a hard time putting sentences together.”
From the sound of that, it seems like impression incompetence isn’t Carvey’s real problem.
