2000 - Will Farrell as George W. Bush
As a regular cast member on SNL from 1995-2002, Farrell was able to play George W. Bush at the forefront of his first term and set a standard for future cast members to follow. Perfectly capturing Bush’s eye squint and slow, Southern drawl, Farrell satirized Bush’s assumed laziness and in turn catapulted himself to fame and soon after became a household name.
2004 - Seth Meyers as John Kerry
During the 2004 Presidential debates, Seth Meyers became most notable for his imitation of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. While Meyers was not an exact mirror image of Kerry, his mannerisms and verbal inflections made this impersonation an SNL a favorite. Meyers mocked Kerry’s excessive use of name-dropping and his overuse of the phrase “I have a plan,” making him known in the comedy realm.
2008 - Tina Fey as Sarah Palin
Fey stepped up to the plate as one of the major SNL cast members in 2008 and arguably changed the path of the election with her spot-on impersonation of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. From her hokey Alaskan accident to her laughable missteps in the memorable Katie Couric interview, Fey literally swayed American’s opinions of the governor from a respectable candidate to a joke of a politician.
