There was a time when comedian Dana Carvey was perhaps best known for his exaggerated and hilarious impression of President George H.W. Bush. But unlike Saturday Night Live’s Alec Baldwin, who has an adversarial relationship with Donald Trump, Carvey and Bush Sr. were actually friends.
Carvey appeared on Conan Monday night a few days after the death of former First Lady Barbara Bush and just hours after news broke that the 41st president had been admitted to the hospital for a blood infection.
“They welcomed my wife and I to the White House,” Carvey told Conan O’Brien. “And we really hung out with them, we really got to know them.” He described Barbara Bush as “so funny” and said he’d “never really seen a marriage that was that effortless.”
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“We had so many warm moments with them,” Carvey added. “It was a different time. It wasn’t scorched-earth, angry politics.”
“Can you imagine that today?” O’Brien asked. “In today’s environment, you do an impression of a president and you’re the enemy. You never would be invited to the White House. And I think that’s something we have lost.”
That is certainly true for Trump, who has on numerous occasions tweeted nasty things about Baldwin, who currently portrays him on SNL. By contrast, George H.W. Bush appeared on that show with Carvey after he had left the White House in 1994.
“I just love them and wish the best for everybody,” Carvey concluded.
