Impersonator (Bridges) adjusts makeup to make Bush seem more vigorous

[Lisa]

This is the same guy who appeared alongside Bush at the White House Correspondents' dinner a few weeks ago. The stills of the event posted here at DU showed the impersonator's neck looking oddly bulky (compared to his appearances as "Bush" on Leno's show). Turns out that they've recently expanded the makeup with an additional latex prosthetic. (An earlier account of what happened when Bridges, his manager, and his makeup artist met Bush at the White House had the makeup guy deciding they needed a new, darker hairpiece.) So I guess they don't want their version of Bush to appear scrawny and wimpy!


originally:

"Kevin's makeup takes approximately 2 hours and contains 7 foam latex appliances which include a forehead, nose, upper lip, lower lip, chin, cheeks, ears, eye bags, eyebrows and wig."
http://www.ppi.cc/ppi_players/kevin_haney2.htm


more recently:

"With a thin face and thinning straight brown hair, Bridges, who is 42 and single, looks nothing like Bush. He becomes The President with the aid of a gray wig and prosthetic facial attachments (forehead, cheeks, nose, upper lip, chin, neck and ears)."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-05-04-bridges_x.htm



This article (link posted from the www.stevebridges.com homepage) gives some more details of their first meeting.

"In February 2003, just a few weeks before the invasion of Iraq, Nolen and Bridges received an invitation to the Oval Office. “It was surreal,” says Bridges. “We were giddy as schoolchildren.” Bush said he appreciated the humorous-but-polite tone of Bridges’ portrayal, and even invited him to do some fishing in Crawford. “He also gave us some advice,” said Nolen. “He said we should be careful about how we use this, because in the wrong hands, there was a chance it could be used against the best interests of Americans.”"

http://www.rakemag.com/stories/section_detail.aspx?itemID=17415&catID=146&SelectCatID=146


Kind of a variant of "watch what you say", isn't it! I know that this may seem a trivial and superficial topic, but I can't help noticing that in the years since Bush uttered that comment, Bush's people have seen fit to reward what they see as appropriate comedy. (Then Colbert comes along and shakes up the nice, comfortable arrangement.)


An additional quote from the Rake article -- I'd argue that Bridges and Nolen may deny being a "political arm", but they're clearly performing some of those functions:

"“We’ve received a few calls from Democratic candidates to basically bash President Bush,” Nolen said. “I got a request for Steve to read a script as part of a classroom project for young kids. The whole thing is anti-Bush—we’re not even going to respond to it. We’re not any sort of political arm of the president, but we want what we do to be respectful.”"

And Bush's people definitely approve, of the friendly (and apolitical) version of him. Hence the invitations to meet Bush, and perform (or rather, prop up Bush's performance at the dinner) -- and even this:

"More recently, Bridges almost served as a replacement for the real deal at another RNC function. “We received a last-minute call from the people who plan events for them,” Nolen explained. “There was an event the president was scheduled to attend—both a reception and a dinner. But he couldn’t make the dinner, and thought, ‘Well, these donors are going to be disappointed—can we get Steve Bridges to fill in for him?’ ”"

http://www.rakemag.com/stories/section_detail.aspx?itemID=17415&catID=146&SelectCatID=146


Bridges as his pre-bulked-up version of Bush:



http://www.irts.org/events/gallery/ns/10-2002/ns_10-2002.html

[SemiCharmedQuark]

1. "used against the best interests of america'

BARF!

[charlie]

2. This guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vue7RNonWs

does a better, uncanny Bush impersonation (and Clinton too!) without makeup.

[Gabi Hayes]

5. "breast and brightest"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QuJ0a0Twqo&search=GEORGE%20BUSH%20IMPERSONATION

[Gabi Hayes]

6. "should I stay or should I go?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-la86p4wH2g&search=GEORGE%20BUSH%20IMPERSONATION

[knitter4democracy]

8. That's uncanny.

Seriously--he has the voice down amazingly perfectly. Get him on the Daily Show!

[rocktivity]

3. That press corps dinner was supposed to make him a household word

but Colbert stole his thunder, lighting, sun AND rain. Poor baby--LOL!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Richard Steele]

4. But at least DU got this out of it:

[Gabi Hayes]

7. "those who are about to die, we salute you"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsG0oONmjXo&search=GEORGE%20BUSH%20IMPERSONATION

[frylock]

9. the guy wasn't even that good..

I watched it because EVERYONE raved about the impersonator. I thought the whole shtick was weak sauce.

[Lisa]

10. considering how much money was put into the impersonator ...

Not just the makeup job, but the extra scriptwriters, etc. -- as you say, it wasn't particularly effective. I suppose Bush kind of dragged things down with his ill-considered attempts at "comedy", but even so, I've watched that same impersonator doing unmemorable stuff on other shows like Leno, and also the Dennis Leary comedy show. That one was a bit of a surprise because Bridges has always billed himself as being a "clean" comic, and the blandness of his one-dimensional Bush routine was evident when compared with what the other acts were doing. I probably wasn't the only viewer who wondered what he was doing there (besides getting paid).

I know it's possible to do some very funny and provocative comedy without getting dirty (Wayne and Schuster in their early days, for example) -- but not without being willing to tackle some social issues somewhere along the way (poverty, war, discrimination, etc.). The reluctance of Nolen and Bridges to address some of the obvious problems of Bush's administration restricts them from doing anything really interesting. The Daily Show has built several years of shows on these issues (with enough left over for the Colbert Report to cover) but the repetitive shtick of "I'm cute but real stupid an' lazy, heh heh heh" is a dead end. No wonder Bridges is focusing on undemanding corporate audiences who just want their photos taken with him -- and staying away from the really challenging places where he might get a pie thrown at him (Nolen's exact words).