Dana Carvey will never miss an opportunity to have a chaotic Saturday Night Live moment.
The comedian revealed on a recent episode of the Superfly podcast, which he co-hosts with David Spade, that smashing an ice cream cone in Maya Rudolph‘s face during last week’s cold open was completely unplanned.
“The ice cream cone was not planned,” Carvey said. “I asked the prop master to give me an ice cream just to hold for the dress show. And then the air show, she gave me a much bigger [one], and I didn’t ask her.”
Toward the end of the Oct. 5 episode’s opening sketch, which featured Carvey’s Joe Biden enjoying some ice cream next to Rudolph’s Kamala Harris and Andy Samberg’s Doug Emhoff as they watched the vice presidential debate, Carvey smacks the ice cream into Rudolph’s face as she sits there seemingly surprised, trying to hold back a laugh.
“I was right kinda gesturing,” Carvey recalled off the split-second decision. “I thought, ‘Here’s ice cream, big gob. Here’s Maya’s face.’ And I didn’t wanna hurt her, but I just — I thought of it, and did it within two seconds. So that’s to put to rest all the rumors and all the talk.”
Later in the podcast, Carvey said he thinks there’s been a more “playful and fun” response to his Biden impression since the president dropped out of the 2024 presidential race against Donald Trump, whereas “it was a hot oven” when he was running for reelection.
But overall, Carvey never wants to come across as disrespecting Biden. He views his impersonation as just exaggerating some of the president’s unique qualities.
“The main thing is it’s making me laugh, and I’m definitely doing stuff that he doesn’t do,” the comedian added. “He doesn’t smash ice creams into faces. You know? He doesn’t say, ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter.’ I’m doing what I did to the first Bush.”
Carvey was a castmember on SNL from 1986 to 1993, during which he played several politicians, including President George H.W. Bush. And now he’s back to play Biden during the NBC show’s 50th season.
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