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Dana Carvey on Playing Biden on SNL Season 50

September 29, 2024 / 04:56

This episode features Dana discussing his upcoming appearance on Saturday Night Live, including his impression of President Biden, rehearsals, and interactions with cast members.

Dana reveals that he was invited by Lorne Michaels to perform on SNL, where he plans to showcase his Biden impression. He explains the nuances of capturing Biden's energy and humor, noting the challenge of making the impression funny without a political message.

The conversation touches on Dana's preparation for the show, including a read-through and rehearsals in New York. He expresses excitement about working with cast members like Bowen Yang and Mikey Day, who have previously appeared on the podcast.

Dana also hints at sharing behind-the-scenes stories from the SNL experience, such as mishaps during rehearsals and interactions with the cast. The episode concludes with anticipation for Dana's performance and a promise to recap the experience in the next episode.

TL;DR

Dana discusses his upcoming SNL performance and Biden impression, sharing insights on rehearsals and cast interactions.

Video

00:00:00
so Dana you have a exciting uh weekend
00:00:03
what are you excited about this weekend
00:00:05
and we'll show it then we'll show it
00:00:06
after the weekend yeah um it's been top
00:00:10
secret I've kept it under wamps for for
00:00:14
weeks um but I was asked um by Lauren
00:00:20
Michaels to come on Saturday Night Live
00:00:24
and if you're listening to this you know
00:00:25
this um to do Biden so because I've sort
00:00:29
of
00:00:30
casually developed I like to take you
00:00:33
know like with George George Bush Senior
00:00:36
not gonna do it I Tred to do that
00:00:38
treatment to Biden and I did it on here
00:00:40
with our YouTube
00:00:42
clips and uh extrapolating it making it
00:00:45
ABS silly and weird and so um let Clips
00:00:50
get around we'll we'll see um I don't
00:00:54
think I didn't see it out there uh
00:00:57
enough you know a Biden impression
00:01:00
not many people were doing Biden that's
00:01:01
true yeah lot of brilliant trumps Shane
00:01:05
James Austin Johnson Biden is trickier
00:01:09
but for me part of the Continuum of of
00:01:13
getting that high energy part of him and
00:01:15
that did that didn't come out until like
00:01:16
maybe six months into his first term
00:01:18
where the they asked him some question
00:01:20
and he got kind of mad I can do whatever
00:01:23
you want know that Rhythm yeah when you
00:01:25
see uh like when I see people that you
00:01:28
could do an impression of a lot of
00:01:30
people on the surface don't see anything
00:01:32
it's just like that's too hard there's
00:01:33
nothing going on there but you go lower
00:01:35
layers layers and start you start to dig
00:01:38
and then you're finding these nuggets
00:01:39
and every time you did them on the show
00:01:41
here it was getting better and more
00:01:43
things happening and then it's like sort
00:01:44
of it's a whole thing going on yeah and
00:01:47
then I just uh you
00:01:49
know sounds kind of corny but the true
00:01:52
Northstar is to try to make it funny and
00:01:54
not really get it to be a political
00:01:57
message per se you know so I don't know
00:02:00
why at one point I didn't write it down
00:02:03
or you know sharpen my pencil that he
00:02:05
would say I Can't Believe It's Not
00:02:07
Butter with declarative intent don't
00:02:11
know why it was it was Pirates to the
00:02:13
Caribbean then it was he would say Can't
00:02:15
Believe It's Not Butter and then you
00:02:16
gave me one um Bed Bath and Beyond which
00:02:20
is a good one too because Beyond is good
00:02:23
with with Biden so um so I've kept it
00:02:26
under WS you got under ws and now you're
00:02:29
in New yor work and that's where we're
00:02:30
doing this from and you've been there uh
00:02:32
getting ready exciting you went to a
00:02:34
read through and uh and you go and you
00:02:37
rehearsing and then you do it this
00:02:39
weekend so we'll air this and then we'll
00:02:42
uh we'll go over it on the next Superfly
00:02:44
how it was when will we air this things
00:02:47
that after I've done the show yeah so
00:02:52
put it right up right after you know
00:02:53
with comedy the thing about it is uh you
00:02:56
don't want anyone to go like right
00:02:58
before you shoot your special
00:03:00
I'm telling you you're gonna kill it
00:03:01
you're gonna crush it no right of course
00:03:04
you don't what do you want to hear
00:03:07
usually you're like well try to have fun
00:03:08
I guess it's the last thing I'd say to
00:03:11
you a fun thing to do and I think you'll
00:03:14
uh at least have a good time with all
00:03:16
with gaffan and with uh everybody that's
00:03:20
doing everyone in the cast of the cold
00:03:23
opening has been on our podcast that's
00:03:25
kind of cool so love it the great thing
00:03:27
about this podcast I said before is that
00:03:30
you know you run into people in Show
00:03:31
Business maybe at an Afterparty or at
00:03:34
some event and it's small talk but once
00:03:37
we have an hour with someone you just
00:03:39
feel like you know him in a different
00:03:41
way and and saying hello to Bowen Yang
00:03:43
and and um Mikey day and just know them
00:03:46
all so much better from this podcast so
00:03:48
that's been a great bonus so that when I
00:03:52
went in there in Maya too um yeah I just
00:03:54
felt like I knew everybody wasn't like
00:03:57
an here comes the old guy from the 80s
00:04:03
yeah well let's hear how it was uh next
00:04:05
week and uh MH and we go back to the
00:04:08
regular Superfly and we'll say all right
00:04:11
thanks everybody that was a fun one and
00:04:13
we'll see you next week Dana by the way
00:04:17
one last thing is that we'll now the
00:04:19
cat's out of the bag we're gonna we're
00:04:21
GNA be uh giving you some of the inside
00:04:24
scoop as oh yeah Dana will tell us about
00:04:27
the week and what happened all the
00:04:28
inside scoop and wig that fell off the
00:04:32
person who forgot their line the Q card
00:04:34
that exploded spontaneously what are the
00:04:36
rehearsals like and the Elephant that
00:04:38
got loose when Lauren tried to write it
00:04:41
oh that we cut that
00:04:43
sketch uh all right great sounds good
00:04:45
have a great uh time out there Dana and
00:04:47
uh see everybody next week see you next
00:04:50
week

Episode Highlights

  • Dana's SNL Debut
    Dana reveals he was asked to perform on Saturday Night Live, doing a Biden impression.
    “I've kept it under wraps for weeks.”
    @ 00m 10s
    September 29, 2024
  • Behind the Scenes Scoop
    Dana shares what to expect from his SNL experience, including funny mishaps.
    “We'll be giving you some of the inside scoop.”
    @ 04m 21s
    September 29, 2024

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • SNL Excitement00:20
  • Impression Insights01:01
  • Podcast Connections03:41
  • Inside Scoop04:21

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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