The comedian portrayed the former president on Saturday Night Live
Dana Carvey described portraying Joe Biden on Saturday Night Live as challenging due to the former president’s mental state. Speaking on a new episode of his podcast Fly on the Wall, Carvey explained that it was “delicate” to parody someone who was “compromised mentally.”
“I knew that he was compromised mentally,” Carvey said. “I mean, it was obvious. But it was a delicate thing in the comedy world. There were a lot of people who did not want to do anything that would kind of ding him in an awkward way.”
The comedian added that playing Biden was “surreal” and “bizarre,” but “a lot of fun.” He told co-host David Spade that the goal was to portray Biden’s quirks without being mean-spirited. “That’s the key, if I can do Biden, if I can make Biden funny to everybody, then I am where I want to be,” he said. “And to make it funny, it had to be recognizable. And so there were certain things I did not include in my package.”
Spade replied, “I think it’s easier to make fun of him if he’s the president than if it’s just a 90-whatever-year-old man and just go, ‘Look at this a–hole.’ So once he’s president, he’s more fair game. But no one made fun of him forever.”
Multiple SNL cast members played Biden over the years, including Jason Sudeikis and Mikey Day. Carvey returned to portray the president during the sketch show’s 50th season. Carvey previously explained on his podcast that SNL creator Lorne Michaels asked him to play Biden before he dropped out of the presidential race. “Lorne was like a dog with a bone,” Carvey said. “He’s still like, ‘You’ll come out. Maybe you’ll appear as a ghost or something.’ He just wanted me to come out anyway. So then I came out.”
Carvey’s first appearance as Biden was kept under wraps until the Season 50 premiere. He described his approach as trying to “make it funny and not really give it a political message, per se.”
