Top 5 Saturday Night Live Politician Impersonations
Ahead of Will Ferrell’s one-night-only Broadway performance of his famous George W. Bush impersonation this weekend, Listicles takes a look back at some of the greatest politician impersonations by Saturday Night Live performers and alums.
Although he’s much, much taller than W., Ferrell transcends physicality to really bring the outgoing President to life (because most of the time, he doesn’t seem alive so much as animated), making him our number 5 on Listicles’ Top 5 Saturday Night Live Politician Impersonations:
5. Will Ferrell as George W. Bush
I’m not sure whether it’s because Ferrell is particularly brilliant or because Bush is unwaveringly horrendous, but this clip hasn’t aged one bit since it was released for the 2004 election.
4. Dan Akroyd as Jimmy Carter
Just look at those mustaches! We here at Listicles really like bushy, self-mocking, vintage-style mustaches.
3. Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford
Again, not the greatest physical match or idiosyncratic replica, but since they point that out from the get-go Chase is free to pretty much do as he pleases. And what he does pleases us, greatly.
2. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton
Only a few weeks old and already enshrined among the all-time classics of SNL political satires, the Fey-Poehler dynamic duo keep it sweet and simply, the former going for semi-accurate mimicry while the latter sticks to all-out parody as Mrs. Clinton, whose boisterous husband may have been the most deserving of satiric imitation among recent political icons. And who better to do it than…
1. Phil Hartman as Bill Clinton
With complete confidence and shameless corpulence, Hartman uses Clinton’s penchant for taking advantage of his privileges as President in the setting of a fast food restaurant. It’s not blatantly a sketch about the Lewinsky scandal, but that makes this a really great sketch about the Lewinsky scandal.
Honorable Mention: Dana Carvey as George H.W. Bush
SNL’s shape-shifter was a little young to play Bush Senior, but he certainly nailed the condescending evasiveness perfectly.

Will Ferrell as W. takes this hands down.