Will Ferrell's George W. Bush returns to take a post-Trump victory lap

(Image credit: Full Frontal/YouTube)

published 1 May 2017

President Trump declined to attend this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner, opting instead for a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, but one former presidential impersonator did show up at Samantha Bee's "Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner" Saturday night. "How do you like me now, huh?" Will Ferrell's George W. Bush said, after striding out onstage smoking a cigarette. "History's been kinder to me than many of you thought." He said he never really liked the press, what with all the "gotcha" questions. ("What's your middle name? Gotcha!") "I just wish someone had told me that all you have to say is 'fake news' over and over again," he said.

Ferrell's Bush noted that he's now a painter, and joked that he's following up his bestselling book Portraits in Courage with a "Portraits in Not Courage" series, pulling out a half-finished painting of Trump. ("As you can see, I exhausted my palette of yellow and oranges.") He ended on a philosophical note. "The job of the presidency is difficult, and as I look back at my eight years in office and my time away from the presidency, I've accumulated a broad depth of knowledge," he said. "If I could distill it down to three words for this president, it would be this: Eat a salad." And then the decision to walk out smoking a cigarette seems to have come back to haunt him. Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.