Comedian Dana Carvey has revealed that his "Saturday Night Live" skits about former President Joe Biden were intended to highlight what he saw as Biden's mental decline.
During the latest episode of his "Fly on the Wall" podcast, Carvey shared with co-host David Spade that he included "obvious" signs in his performance that Biden was "compromised mentally," a taboo topic that many "in the comedy world" danced around, according to Mediaite.
"I knew that he was compromised mentally," he told actor Julie Bowen when pressed on the matter during his podcast. "I mean, it was obvious to me, but it was a delicate thing in the comedy world. There were a lot of people did not want to do anything that would kind of ding him in like an awkward way."
"But it's comedy!" Bowen replied.
"That's it. That's the key. If I can do Biden, if I can make Biden funny to everybody, then, then I am where I want to be," Carvey said. "And then to make it funny, it had to be recognizable. And so there's certain things I did not include in my package."
Spade pointed out the reluctance to mock Biden's mistakes.
"I think it's easier to make fun of him if he's the president. If it's just a 90-whatever-year-old man, just go look at this a*****e. So once he's president, then he's more fair game to say, but no one made fun of him forever," he said.
"Well, but they didn't, but no one did," Carvey agreed.
The comedian previously spoke about his Biden skit in September, telling Spade that he "didn't see it out there enough, a Biden impression," according to Variety.
[There are] a lot of brilliant Trumps — Shane [Gillis], James Austin Johnson. Biden is trickier … getting that high-energy part of him, and that didn't come out until maybe six months into his first term when they asked him some question, and he got kind of mad," he continued.
"It sounds kind of corny, but the true North Star is to try to make it funny and not really get it to be a political message, per se," Carvey added.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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