Will Ferrell Impersonates ‘Today’ Host’s Famous Dad to Her Face
Will Ferrell found the perfect opportunity to resurrect his iconic impression on Thursday.
Jenna Bush Hager had a feeling it was coming.
Will Ferrell appeared on Jenna & Sheinelle on Thursday to promote his new Netflix show, The Hawk, with the rest of the cast. And while there, he resurrected his impersonation of Bush’s father, George W. Bush, drawing a big smile from Bush’s TV host daughter. “I was hoping this was coming,” she said.

Will Ferrell as President George W. Bush during the "Arab Myths" skit on November 10, 2001.
NBC/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Ferrell and The Hawk cast, which includes his frequent collaborator Molly Shannon, played a round of “Putt or Dare,” during which Ferrell was instructed that if he missed his next shot, he had to perform “three celebrity impressions.”
Bush was his go-to. “Here’s the thing about golf,” he said in the 43rd president’s voice. Turning to Bush Hager, he added, “And you know, we used to talk about this when you were just a little girl,” as she grinned from ear to ear.

Bush Hager has said that her father enjoyed SNL's impressions of him.
NBC/Getty
“You need a lot of strategery to get the ball in the hole,” Ferrell continued, referencing the famous fictional word SNL came up with for Bush for the October 7, 2000, presidential debate sketch.
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“That’s your dad,” he concluded.
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Ferrell debuted his Bush impression on Saturday Night Live in 2000. He regularly played Bush until 2002, to great fanfare, which led him to reprise the parodied Bush in 2015 and 2018.

Polling suggests that Democrats were in a much better place at this time in President Bush's final term than they are now. Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Bush Hager revealed on Today in 2024 that she used to show her dad Ferrell’s impression. “He loved it!” she said. “When he was the president, Barbara and I would show him the Saturday Night Lives where they made fun of him and stuff.”
“He didn’t care,” she added at the time. “He thought it was hilarious!”
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