Dana Carvey Says His SNL Impression of Joe Biden Needed to Be 'Delicate' Because Former President Seemed 'Compromised Mentally'

Dana Carvey did not take his job as faux President Joe Biden lightly.

The comedian, 70, portrayed Biden, 82, on Saturday Night Live during the 2024 presidential election cycle, alongside Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris, Andy Samberg as her husband Doug Emhoff, Jim Gaffigan as Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump.

On the June 26 episode of his and David Spade's podcast, Fly on the Wall, guest Julie Bowen asked Carvey what it was like to embody the former president on the late-night sketch comedy show, which produced an interesting answer.

Carvey was put on the spot about whether he had any regrets about how he'd portrayed the former president.

Carvey called the experience playing Biden on SNL "surreal" and "bizarre," but also "at times, a lot of fun."

The Modern Family star, 55, then asked whether he now feels any "guilt" about his portrayal, given the belief that "Biden is severely diminished" now.

To that, Carvey said, "I knew that he was compromised mentally, I mean, it was obvious. But it was a delicate thing in the comedy world."

He revealed that there were "a lot of people who did not want to do anything that would kind of ding him in an awkward way" in the comedy space, understandably.

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"But it's comedy!" Bowen noted.

Carvey revealed what he thought was the "key" to his version of Biden.

"If I can make Biden funny to everybody, then I am where I want to be," Carvey told Bowen and his co-host. "And to make it funny, it had to be recognizable. And so there were certain things I did not include in my package."

Bowen again praised Carvey's impression as "fantastic," while Spade, 60, noted that Biden was "fair game" in the comedy world because he was president, which made it "easier" to poke fun at him.

"I think it’s easier to make fun of him if he’s the president than if it’s just a 90-whatever-year-old man and just go, 'Look at this a------.' So once he’s president, he’s more fair game," Spade said.

After several weeks as Biden, Carvey transitioned over to a hilarious impression of Elon Musk in the aftermath of the election.

On the Nov. 10 episode of SNL, just days after Trump won, Carvey made his debut as Musk in a cold-open that saw the cast jokingly reveal they'd been supporting Trump throughout the whole election.

He jumped up and down in a "Dark MAGA" hat and declared, as Musk, "Seriously, I run the country now."

"America's going to be like one of my rockets, you know? They're super cool and super fun. But there's a slight chance it could blow up and everybody dies," he said.

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Mike Meyers has since inherited the title as Musk-impersonator on SNL, and made his surprise debut in March as the Tesla mogul.