Alternate SNL Presidents

The position of parody president is something coveted on Saturday Night Live. Dan Aykroyd was Nixon, Chevy Chase was Ford, Dana Carvey was Bush Sr, Phil Hartman and Darrell Hammond were Clinton, and so on.

So, in the event someone else won an election, who could fill the role of chief impressionist?
 
Well, going by who played the losing candidate each year, it looks like

President Mondale would've been Dana Carvey.
President Dukakis would have been Jon Lovitz
President Dole would've been Norm McDonald
President Gore would've been Hammond as well.
President Kerry would've been Seth Meyers.
President Hillary Clinton would've been Amy Poehler
President McCain would've been played by Hammond, but one suspects they'd rely more on the Vice Presidential material in the event McCain/Palin actually, somehow, won.
 
Steve Bushemi as Walter Mondale?

That'd be interesting....

Well, going by who played the losing candidate each year, it looks like

President Mondale would've been Dana Carvey.
President Dukakis would have been Jon Lovitz
President Dole would've been Norm McDonald
President Gore would've been Hammond as well.
President Kerry would've been Seth Meyers.
President Hillary Clinton would've been Amy Poehler
President McCain would've been played by Hammond, but one suspects they'd rely more on the Vice Presidential material in the event McCain/Palin actually, somehow, won.

Now this looks like the best one.
 
The one caveat I want to add to what I've already said is the strong likelihood that the "President Dole" role would eventually be recast. Even if he's playing the President, there's still a chance Norm McDonald will be fired eventually. Meaning someone else in the cast has to take his place, more likely than not it would be Hammond because he was the go to man for that kind of role in the time period. Although, in one episode Dan Ackroyd may a brief cameo appearance as Bob Dole, so maybe more frequent cameo's from him?

If McDonald is not fired by virtue of his impression, that alters Weekend Update's history quite a bit. No Quinn in the anchor chair in the tale end of the 1990's, and by butterflies and such no Fallon/Fey duel anchoring in the 2000's. This probably hurts Fey's career more than Fallon's.
 
The one caveat I want to add to what I've already said is the strong likelihood that the "President Dole" role would eventually be recast. Even if he's playing the President, there's still a chance Norm McDonald will be fired eventually. Meaning someone else in the cast has to take his place, more likely than not it would be Hammond because he was the go to man for that kind of role in the time period. Although, in one episode Dan Ackroyd may a brief cameo appearance as Bob Dole, so maybe more frequent cameo's from him?

If McDonald is not fired by virtue of his impression, that alters Weekend Update's history quite a bit. No Quinn in the anchor chair in the tale end of the 1990's, and by butterflies and such no Fallon/Fey duel anchoring in the 2000's. This probably hurts Fey's career more than Fallon's.

Actually, if McDonald has a prominent role as "President Dole", theres always the chance he may leave update (starting with miller, it was rare to see the update anchor in recurring roles, with a few exceptions), therefore meaning the OJ jokes dont happen and Norm stays with SNL longer.
 
Well, I suppose it's possible that Norm leaves Update without leaving the show entirely. But aside from Dan Aykroyd, I can't think of anyone who left Update while remaining on the show. Chase left update when he left the show, same with Jane Curtin and Bill Murray if I remember the facts correctly. Granted my knowledge of the show between the time the original cast and writers leave and Michaels' second season after returning is fairly limited. Basically, I know Eddie Murphy was on it and that's about it. So maybe there's precedent in those seasons, not sure. But in the post Miller era I think that was definitely the tradition. Miller left Update when he left the show, same with Nealon, Quinn, Fallon, and Fey. So I'm not sure such a departure is inevitable.

Speaking of Chevy Chase, I just thought of something else. What happens if Ford wins in 1976? As far as I know Chase decision to leave the show had been finalized before the election. So, with Chase gone and Ford still in the White House, what does SNL do? My guess is that the role would turn to Aykroyd. Well either that or no President Ford impressions at all, aside from when Chase hosts, for the remainder of the first five seasons. This may be a bit like what happened when Ferrell left. Other actors did Bush impressions in his absence. But when one tries to recall "SNL's George W. Bush" it's Ferrell that comes to mind-not Will Forte.
 
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