Turns out, the 43rd POTUS "thought it was hilarious" when SNL impersonated him. Throughout his two terms as President of the United States in the early 2000s, George W. Bush gave Saturday Night Live plenty of material to work with for years. How to Watch Watch Saturday Night Live Saturdays at 11:30/10:30c on NBC and Peacock, streaming next day on Peacock.

In fact, his daughter Jenna Bush Hager said on TODAY in April 2025 that she thought her father was perhaps “easy to play” because he provided SNL’s writers and cast members with “a lot of fodder.” And, as it turns out, President Bush got a kick out of being the butt of the joke. “He loved it!” Bush Hager said on TODAY in March 2024 after revealing that she and her twin sister, Barbara Pierce Bush, would often show him sketches where SNL “made fun of him and stuff” when he was president. “He didn't care.

He thought it was hilarious!” Bush Hager told her former co-host Hoda Kotb. “If you're going to be the President of the United States, people are going to make fun of you.” President Bush clearly understood what came with the territory and had a good sense of humor about it. Indeed, as Bush revealed during a MasterClass he instructed, he and his wife, Laura Bush, once went to dinner with SNL creator Lorne Michaels and chatted about the former president’s “magnificent use of malapropisms.” Read on to learn about which cast members have donned a grey wig with a side part as the 43rd POTUS through the years on SNL.

Who’s played President George W. Bush on Saturday Night Live? During his presidential campaigns, two terms in office, and beyond, Bush was impersonated by five SNL cast members: Will Ferrell, Chris Parnell, Darrell Hammond, Will Forte, and Jason Sudeikis. RELATED: Why Jenna Bush Hager Did Not Want the Portrait Dad George W. Bush Painted of Her Will Ferrell Years impersonating George W. Bush: 1999-2002 Will Ferrell as George Bush during Saturday Night Live Primetime Extra 1 on February 1, 2001.

Photo: NBC Ferrell’s comedic portrayal of Bush is perhaps SNL’s most famous. In Season 25, the member of SNL’s Five-Timers Club made his debut as Bush and continued to play the character in dozens of sketches until 2002. Even after Ferrell departed as a cast member, the actor has returned to SNL many times and reprised his role as Bush, most recently in 2018 for a hilarious cold open in Season 43.

Ferrell’s impression of Bush even convinced the president himself that he came up with a “Bushism” written into a 2000 debate sketch. During an appearance on TODAY in 2022, Ferrell revealed that Bush never actually said the word “strategery.” “Someone else wrote that,” Ferrell said, as Bush Hager confirmed their family’s side of the story. “Lorne Michaels told my dad, ‘You never said that,’ and he said, ‘What?

I spent all those years [thinking I’d said it],’” Bush Hager recalled. “Oh, I knew all along,” Ferrell said before coyly adding, “I’m sorry, Mr. President.” Chris Parnell Years impersonating George W. Bush: 2002-2003 Chris Parnell as George Bush on Saturday Night Live Season 28, Episode 12 on February 15, 2003. Photo: Mary Ellen Matthews/NBC Parnell began playing Bush in SNL Season 28 and starred in a handful of sketches as the sitting president.

Though he played the character for only a year, Parnell had certainly nailed Bush’s Texas accent and smirk. RELATED: Jenna Bush Hager’s White House Secret Service Code Name Was So Hilarious & Cute Darrell Hammond Years impersonating George W. Bush: 2003 Darrell Hammond as George Bush on Saturday Night Live Season 34, Episode 7 on November 1, 2008. Photo: Dana Edelson/NBC In SNL Season 29, Hammond starred in two sketches as President Bush.

In addition to putting on his own spin to the Republican POTUS, Hammond also impersonated Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Al Gore during his tenure on SNL. Will Forte Years impersonating George W. Bush: 2004-2006 Will Forte as George Bush on Saturday Night Live Season 29, Episode 19 on May 8, 2004. Photo: Mary Ellen Matthews/NBC Later on in Season 29, Forte took on the role of playing Bush on SNL.

And while he starred in nearly two dozen memorable sketches as the president, Forte shared with TODAY in April 2025 that he was nervous to fill his predecessors' shoes. “I was so bad at it,” Forte laughed when Bush Hager asked the SNL alum about impersonating her father. “I mean, it was tough because Will Ferrell had just done it for years and years.

It’s like trying to replace the Church Lady! He was just the SNL Bush and it was so early in my SNL career.” When asked why he stopped playing Bush, Forte jokingly answered, “I was retired” from the role and added that he was “so relieved” when Sudeikis took over. RELATED: Jenna Bush Hager Remembers How She "Wept" with Her Dad on Her Wedding Day in 2008 Jason Sudeikis Years impersonating George W. Bush: 2006-2008 Jason Sudeikis as George Bush on Saturday Night Live Season 32, Episode 18 April 21, 2007.

Photo: Dana Edelson/NBC In Season 32, Sudeikis began his tenure of playing Bush on SNL. Like his fellow cast members, the Ted Lasso actor had perfected the president’s Southern accent and was often praised for his spot-on facial expressions. Beyond playing President Bush, Sudeikis is also known for his political impersonations of Joe Biden and Mitt Romney while he was on SNL.