Will Ferrell returned to host “SNL” after a six-year gap, again playing former president George W. Bush and broadcasting on Twitch from an Oval Office set in his basement.
“It is I, George W. Bush,” Ferrell said as he started the cold open. “As you might remember, the ‘W’ stands for ‘Wazzup!’”
“I’m getting my MFA from the University of Phoenix online,” Ferrell’s Bush continued as he talked about his oil painting hobby. “Yeah, it’s paying off big time.”
Bush then went on to address the current president.
“I dunno if you’ve seen the news, but my approval rating is at an all-time high,” Bush said. “Yeah, Donny Q. Trump came in and I’ve been looking pretty sweet by comparison. At this rate I might be on Mt. Rushmore. Right next to Washington, Jefferson, and I wanna say Kensington?”
In comparing himself to Trump, Ferrell’s Bush had a message for America.
“I just want to take this opportunity to remind you guys that I was really bad. I was historically not good,” he said.
“Please do not look back at my presidency and think ‘This is how we do it,’” Bush continued. “Don’t forget that we’re in two wars that I started. What has two thumbs and created ISIS? This guy. At least the stock market is doing well now. Remember the stock market when I was president? It’s the only graph that comes its own slide whistle sound.
“Now I’m no economer, but even I know that was no bueno. And you wanna compare VPs for a sec? If you knew half the stuff ol’ Chenney was up to, you’d take ‘no cake for gays’ in a heartbeat. People say Mike Pence is heartless, but Dick Cheney was literally heartless. At this point it’s just LEGOs in there.”
Ferrell’s Bush then compared his controversial election win against Al Gore to Trump’s win against Hillary Clinton.
“I’m not a Trump synthesizer or anything, but we have a lot in common,” Bush said. “We’re the same age, even though I was president like 40 years ago. We both won the presidency even though we lost the popular vote. But we didn’t use Russian interference. In my day, we used the Supreme Court like Americans.”
The sketch ended with Condoleezza Rice, played by Leslie Jones, showing up to watch a movie with Bush. The the pair launched into a duet riffing on the theme song from “All in the Family.”
“The housing market went to hell,” Jones’ Rice sang.
“Nazis kept it to themselves,” Bush echoed.
“Bin Laden was a live and well,” they sang together. “Those were the days!”