Saturday Night Live alum Dana Carvey has offered new insight into his portrayal of former President Joe Biden.
Carvey appeared frequently as Biden on the late-night sketch comedy show during the 2024-2025 season, often alongside Maya Rudolph as Vice President Kamala Harris. Speaking on his Fly on the Wall podcast with co-host David Spade, Carvey said many in the comedy world recognized that Biden’s mental faculties were declining, as has long been alleged.
“I knew that he was compromised mentally. I mean, it was obvious,” Carvey said when asked by guest Julie Bowen if he feels any guilt about his portrayal. “But it was a delicate thing in the comedy world.”
“A lot of people did not want to do anything that would kind of ding him in like an awkward way,” Carvey continued. “If I can make Biden funny to everybody, then I am where I want to be. To make it funny, it had to be recognizable and so there’s certain things I did not include in my package.”
Carvey — who previously spoofed former President George H.W. Bush on SNL — also admitted it took him about two years to get his Biden impression locked down. He often used Biden’s signature phrases in his bits, including “I’m not kidding around here” and “I’m being serious.”
“It was a real challenge to make it acceptable,” Carvey said. Once he did, though, Carvey said the former president became his favorite impersonation.
Biden’s mental decline had been a hot topic for some time, though his disastrous televised presidential debate against Donald Trump in June 2024 made it a nationwide talking point. Just weeks later, he dropped out of the presidential race, making way for Harris to assume the Democratic ticket.
A recent book published by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson shared damning allegations about Biden’s mental and physical deterioration in 2023 and 2024. Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again details startling instances of Biden’s gaps in mental acuity that were reportedly hidden from the public through 2024.
Tapper and Thompson’s book was based on interviews with 200 people, including members of Congress, the White House, and campaign insiders.
Now, on the heels of the damning book, Trump ordered an investigation by White House lawyers and the Justice Department into the alleged cover up of Biden’s failing cognitive health while he was in office. Trump has accused Biden of using an autopen — or signing machine — to sign pardons and other legal documents, claiming they may be null and void. However, legal experts have pushed back on those claims.
Biden, who has called the accusations against him “ridiculous and false,” has long denied reports of deteriorating cognitive function while in office.
“I made the decisions during my presidency,” Biden said in a June 2025 statement.
