NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty; Howard L. Sachs/Consolidated News/Getty
Saturday Night Live veteran Dana Carvey, who was known for his impression of President George H.W. Bush on the sketch show, once had an interaction that the late politician didn’t find very funny.
“So I’m in the White House having dinner, my wife and I, with George senior, the president of the United States at the time, and his wife Barbara,” Carvey recalled on a recent episode of his podcast, Superfly, cohosted by David Spade. “And the dog, Ranger, kept coming around looking for food. So I was kinda sneaking some food to the dog.”
“And then at one point the president just said, ‘Don’t feed the dog,'” Carvey shared, taking on Bush’s voice.
Related: Dana Carvey says Kamala Harris ‘bent over laughing’ as he did Joe Biden impression for her at SNL
The comic’s response to the presidential scolding? “I literally said, ‘Yes, sir,'” he admitted, noting in his defense that the dog was “so cute.”
The SNL star famously impersonated the politician regularly while Bush occupied the Oval Office from 1989 to 1993. In fact, he won an Emmy in 1993 for his role in Saturday Night Live’s Presidential Bash.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Most of the time, Bush and Carvey were friendly. Really.
RENAUD GIROUX/AFP via Getty
President George H.W. Bush watches Dana Carvey impersonate him at the White House in 1992
In 2018, the year Bush died at 94, Carvey told Conan O’Brien on the late-night show Conan that he and his wife had been invited to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. after Bush lost re-election in 1992.
“We really hung out with them. We really got to know them,” he shared of spending time with the couple, saying they went on to do many charity events together. Carvey said the former president continued to occasionally give him a call or send a friendly note years later.
Related: Every Saturday Night Live season 50 host and musical guest
While Carvey left the SNL cast in 1993, he’s returned to the legendary NBC sketch show numerous times to cameo or host, including in 1994, when he used his monologue to impersonate Bush again, prompting the former president to participate in a bit where he called in and pretended to complain about the “bad” impression.
Carvey returned to the show for season 50 this year, playing President Joe Biden in several episodes and recently reviving his fan-favorite Church Lady character.
Listen to Carvey tell the story of feeding Bush’s dog on Superfly at 21:30 in the video above.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
