‘SNL’ Honors George H.W. Bush With Dana Carvey Impression Flashback

Saturday Night Live saluted President George H.W. Bush, who died Friday at age 94, with a “Weekend Update” flashback to Dana Carvey’s many impressions of the politician. “President Bush was famously a very warm and gracious man who understood the power in being able to laugh at yourself,” co-host Colin Jost said, introducing the segment. 

The brief clip served as a “greatest hits” montage of Carvey’s most famous Bush impressions on the show – including his send-up of the then-president’s “thousand points of light” phrase and “not gonna do it” line (pronounced by Carvey as “na ga da”). 

The video ends with a memorable exchange between the comedian (in character as Bush) and the president himself. “Dana, George Bush here. I’m watching you do your impression of me, and I’ve gotta say – it’s nothing like me,” Bush says. “Bears no resemblance. It’s bad. It’s bad. Don’t see it. It’s totally exaggerated. It’s not me – those crazy hand gestures, the pointing thing. I don’t do them. Also, ‘Na ga da’? Never said it. In all my years of government service, I never once said ‘Na ga da.'”

Bush, the 41st president of the United States, died Friday at his Houston home. “Melania and I join with a grieving Nation to mourn the loss of former President George H.W. Bush, who passed away last night,” President Trump wrote in a statement following the news. “Through his essential authenticity, disarming wit, and unwavering commitment to faith, family, and country, President Bush inspired generations of his fellow Americans to public service – to be, in his words, ‘a thousand points of light’ illuminating the greatness, hope, and opportunity of America to the world.”