He’s not President George W. Bush. He just plays him on TV.
And extremely well, too, as Steve Bridges proved by working with the real deal at the recent White House Correspondents Dinner. He gets back into “Dubya” makeup on this year’s edition of “An American Celebration at Ford’s Theatre: The July 4th Special” Tuesday on ABC.
Tom Selleck hosts the event, taped in late June before a dignitary-filled audience in Washington, D.C. Country music’s Lonestar, opera star Heather Headley, trumpeter Chris Botti, actress-singer Renee Olstead (“Still Standing”) and “Saturday Night Live” alumnus Kevin Nealon also appear.
A highlight is likely to be the fake Bush entertaining the real one. The chief executive gave Bridges a prime showcase in late April in front of hundreds of journalists and, courtesy of C-SPAN, viewers nationwide. “The White House wanted it to be a surprise,” Bridges recalls, “for the ‘fun’ effect, so I hadn’t really told anybody. A few hours before, I called my family and said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna be doing a show that’ll be on television.’ “
Doing a Bush impression while standing with the actual subject, “There’s really nothing like it,” Bridges maintains. “I can’t compare it to anything because it’s totally unique. Most impersonators don’t want to impersonate someone while the real person is next to them, but this just worked out so well. The president was really ready to have a great time with it.”
Also an impersonator of former President Bill Clinton and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bridges believes performing for Bush — rather than with him — couldn’t be nearly as nerve-racking: “You just can’t top that.”
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Born: May 1964.
Birthplace: Dallas.
Current residence: Southern California.
Family info: Single.
Other television credits: “ER,” “The District,” “Nurses,” “JAG” (as President Bush), “NCIS” (as Bush), “Whoopi” (as Bush) and “The Jeff Foxworthy Roast” (as Bush).
On portraying President Bush before a largely political crowd: “I just put a lot of those things out of my mind. I’m just working. A day or two before, I think, ‘OK, I’ve got a show. I’d better get ready.’ Otherwise, I think I’d go cuckoo.”
