Dana Carvey shared details with Conan O’Brien on Monday night about his relationship with the Bush family, reflecting fondly on his bond with Barbara and George H.W. Bush, and observing how drastically things have changed between comedians and politicians in the intervening years.
“They welcomed me and my wife to the White House after they had lost the election [in 1992] and we really hung out with him, we really got to know them,” Carvey said, noting he’s “never seen a marriage that was that effortless.”
Barbara Bush died last week at age 92 and reports broke on Monday that George Bush Sr. is in intensive care with sepsis just one day after his wife’s funeral. Carvey, who famously did impressions of the former president on Saturday Night Live, said he and his wife “had so many warm moments” with the couple, who invited him to the White House after seeing the impressions.
“It was a different time,” Carvey said. “It wasn’t scorched Earth angry politics.”
O’Brien agreed, and said that doing an impression of the president would mean a comedian would “never be invited to the White House, that’s something we have lost.”
“The Bush family, a great example of people that had a real grace, and have a real grace at looking at comedians and what they’re doing and seeing the sweetness of it, and the silliness of it, and seeing that it’s important in our country,” O’Brien said.
Take a look at the clip below.
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