There’s a famous story from 1992’s election season on Saturday Night Live. Dana Carvey’s iconic impression of President George H.W. Bush was already well established and his castmate Phil Hartman was playing challenger Bill Clinton. But when Ross Perot entered the race as a third-party candidate, Carvey ended up doing double duty in the show’s three-way debate sketch. While newcomer David Spade played Perot in the live wide shots, Carvey pre-taped the billionaire candidate’s lines for the close-ups.
So when Carvey returned for his second night guest-hosting for Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday, he decided to one-up that feat by playing the only two roles in a preview of what the 2024 debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump might look like.
After delivering a few jokes about Biden and Trump as former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, Carvey pivoted to the debate bit, moderated by Kimmel’s security guard, Guillermo, of course.
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As the camera cut back and forth, Carvey expertly transformed himself into each candidate using nothing but a bad wig and his impressive mimicry skills. He played Biden as a befuddled old man who mixes up Kamala Harris and Harrison Ford and Trump as a far more deranged madman who ranted about Kim Jong Un’s “tiny feet” and said, “I like my fro-yo like I like my voters: white and sloppy.”
Ultimately, Carvey presented a choice that few Americans are going to be happy with come 2024. While Biden seemed to embrace the slogan, “Monkeypox: It’s what’s for dinner,” Trump sent prospective voters off with the message, “God bless me and God bless my terrific penis.”
“Goodnight, America,” Guillermo told viewers when it was over. “We are fucked.”
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