One Word: Stagetegery

Will Ferrell brings Bush back—to Broadway.

Robert J. Saferstein

Ferrell as W.

By Jeremy McCarter | NEWSWEEK

Published Feb 7, 2009

From the magazine issue dated Feb 16, 2009

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The squinty eyes, the frat-boy swagger, the barely checked impulse to cram a nerd into a locker: Will Ferrell has brought the glorious details of his Dubya impression to Broadway. In "You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush," he offers an 80-minute tour of the ex-president's subtle, subtle mind, right down to piping in songs from the "Top Gun" soundtrack as the audience enters. Drink it in, everybody.

You might wonder why Ferrell's show is on Broadway, and why now. After all, it targets a man who's become a former president. ("Thank you, that's very kind of you," he says after cheers erupt at his first use of that phrase.) Plus, the Ferrell-as-Bush shtik is already as old as "strategery" and as near at hand as YouTube. Luckily it's hard to quibble while laughing as much as Ferrell makes you laugh. It doesn't work out to 80 minutes of unalloyed comedy—maybe 65—but who needs more justification than that?

The premise of the show (written by Ferrell, directed by frequent collaborator Adam McKay) is that with government power now in the hands of "the Tiger Woods guy," Bush can finally set the record straight about his presidency. No Oliver Stone–ish attempts to treat the last eight years evenhandedly here: Ferrell serves up sharp comic abuse of Bush's ties to his dad, his dubious down-home-ness, his crimes against the language. Exerting massive self-control, I won't give away the jokes, except to say that the evening features visits from some cronies and at least one deeply crass, no-he-didn't sight gag.

All the dirty words and sex jokes, plus the after-the-fact timing, make the show feel a bit like a satyr play, the low comedy that offered a reprieve from the weighty tragedies of ancient Greece. Yet no matter how buffoonish Ferrell makes Bush seem, the ex-president should have sent him an opening-night bouquet. By the time Tina Fey was done with Sarah Palin, the wannabe veep seemed not just foolish but utterly unappealing. Ferrell's outsize likability, though, continues to rub off on his subject. Even now, you can almost imagine having a beer with the guy.

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Posted By: tma-sierrahills @ 02/14/2009 1:06:22 AM

Re: The Bush-Obama Twins

One open-border president has been replaced by another, although don't hold your breath waiting for Hollywood or Broadway to parody or satirize that particular unconstitutional, anti-environmental, hypocritical travesty.
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Border Enforcement + Immigration Moratorium = Job & Eco Sanity
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Posted By: BlackenedSky @ 02/11/2009 6:35:36 AM

I saw it during previews and it really was hilarious. And I think Bush has been discussed enough, this was plain entertainment. It should not be seen as the last dig at him, it's just a thank-you for all the great comedic material he has provided in the past years.
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Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 02/10/2009 4:19:55 PM

I would have a beer with some of Obamas people but they keep resigning.

And NEWSWEAK [which seems to have more a perpensity for cheap scotch rather than a decent beer],we already know the ''sight gag'',this being the ''excuse me while I whip this out'',though critics are unsure whether the member was flaccid or erect upon its production. We look forward to your whiny outrage when it becomes Obama that is the subject of such crass... ''art''? [Offered for your consideration is a repeated film cycle of Obama ,Jerry Ford -like, smacking his head into the overhead of AF1s helicopter door as he leaves for Indiana yesterday].