Will Ferrell Reprises His Famous Role As President Bush

On the evening of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the jokes were out in full force, with no press outlet or public figure left unprovoked. While President Trump did not attend the dinner — the first time a president has skipped the event in more than 30 years — another president did make an appearance across town. Although we didn't get to watch Trump makes jokes about himself last night, Will Ferrell as George W. Bush at Not The White House Correspondents' Dinner was an even better (and probably funnier) presidential appearance, let's be honest.

Not The White House Correspondents' Dinner was put together by Full Frontal With Samantha Bee host Samantha Bee and TBS as a response to the WHCD, or a love letter to American journalists, according to Vox. While the WHCD is the annual chance for the president to get made fun of and poke fun at themselves, this year, the guest of honor was noticeably absent. But, at Not The White House Correspondents' Dinner, Samantha Bee pulled out all the stops and even got a former president (okay, so it was Will Ferrell disguised as a former president) as the guest of honor. It almost felt like the real WHCD — and the jokes were just as good.

As the 43rd president of the United States, Ferrell donned that famous gray wig and put on that old Texas accent to give his speech. In his role as ole' Dubya, which he was reprising from his time on SNL, Ferrell joked about how Trump has made Bush's presidency look a lot better. "I'm doing quite well, actually," Ferrell (Or "President Bush") said. "History has been proven to be a lot kinder to me than many of you thought. For the longest time, I was considered to be the worst president of all time — that has changed. And it only took 100 days." But as funny as that is, it could not be more true. The nostalgia for George W. Bush's presidency has been real from both conservatives and liberals alike over the past hundred days, surprisingly enough.

Ferrell as Bush joked about the former president's hobby, called out Trump's fashion choices, and in summation, reiterated the one thing we all know to be true — the job of the president is difficult, despite what some people might think. Ferrell's impression of Bush, which originated during his time as a cast member on Saturday Night Live is classic (even the former president thinks so). Just like the nostalgia that people have for G.W., the nostalgia for Ferrell's impression is all the same — and his appearance this weekend was almost better than the real deal.