The unlikely friendship between George H.W. Bush and Dana Carvey

Retropod

The Washington Post

History, Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.5 • 670 Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2018

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

George H.W. Bush had a lot of humility. So much that he developed a friendship with the comedian who impersonated him on SNL, Dana Carvey.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod. A show about the past, rediscovered.
0:07.9	President George Herbert Walker Bush died Friday night. He was 94 years old. No ex-president in history lived as long as he did.
0:23.6	What was the key to his longevity?
0:27.6	Courage and toughness, most likely, Bush, a Navy pilot during World War II,
0:33.6	was jumping out of planes well into his late 80s.
0:41.1	But maybe it was humility, too.
0:45.1	No president in modern history displayed as much.
0:48.8	Just ask comedian Dana Carvey.
0:52.5	We are going to make it because it's live from New York.
0:53.2	It's Saturday.
0:53.7	No! In early December 1992, to make it because it's live from New York. It's Saturday night.
0:55.0	In early December 1992, a month after Bill Clinton had whipped him in the general election,
1:02.0	President Bush held a holiday party for his deflated staffers.
1:07.0	They were in for a big surprise.
1:10.0	A couple weeks earlier, the president had called Carvey, who had been They were in for a big surprise.
1:14.0	A couple weeks earlier, the president had called Carvey,
1:18.9	who had been imitating him for months on Saturday Night Live.
1:19.6	Not going to do it.
1:21.4	Wouldn't be prudent at this juncture.
1:23.2	And what did Bush do?
1:32.5	He invited Carvey to the White House to surprise his staff by imitating him in person, goofy warts and all.
1:44.3	Carvey was startled. His impersonation of Bush, though never mean, was not particularly flattering.
	...

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