Jenna Bush Hager Admits On ‘Today’ She Used To Show George W. Bush ‘SNL’ Skits Mocking Him: “He Thought It Was Hilarious”

Today host Jenna Bush Hager shared a rather surprising glimpse into her childhood during her father George W. Bush’s time as the President of the United States. After telling Hoda Kotb that she enjoys “gently roasting” the people she loves, she confessed that she even does it to her father.

“Yeah, I love to roast my dad. Like when he was the president, Barbara and I would show him the Saturday Night Lives where they made fun of him and stuff,” she said, directly mentioning Will Ferrell‘s iconic impersonation of Bush. “He loved it!”

She also recalled once seeing a bumper sticker in Texas that read, “A village in Texas is missing its idiot.”

“We told our dad, he didn’t care,” she said. “He thought it was hilarious!”

Kotb replied, “I think if you can’t laugh at yourself then it’s because you feel like there’s some truth to it.”

Bush Hager added, “But also, if you’re going to be the President of the United States, people are going to make fun of you! And guess what? It ain’t just about you. That’s how it is, man! That’s how it’s always been!”

Bush Hager can certainly laugh it off. Ferrell once even performed his impersonation for her during an appearance on Today With Hoda & Jenna in 2022.

Jenna says when her father was president, she and her twin Barbara would show him clips of “Saturday Night Live” where they made fun of him — but he would laugh it off! pic.twitter.com/enSVvUnIJX

— TODAY with Hoda & Jenna (@HodaAndJenna) March 13, 2024

“Here’s a funny story,” Ferrell said as Bush during the appearance. “I didn’t realize that I never said ‘strategery.’ Someone else wrote that.”

He was referencing a former SNL skit in which he used the made-up word “strategery,” bringing many people (and even Bush himself) to believe that he had used it during his presidential campaign.

But Bush Hager confirmed that SNL boss Lorne Michaels had to tell Bush that “strategery” was just something they made up in the writers room to poke fun at the many verbal mistakes that he made. “We had this conversation before that Lorne Michaels told my dad, ‘You never said that,'” Bush Hager said. “And he said, ‘What?!’ I spent all those years [thinking I said it.]'”

Bush even confirmed it himself during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“[Michaels] said to me ‘No, you didn’t say strategery,’” he said. “I said, ‘I damn sure said strategery!’ He said, ‘We invented it.’ And I said, ‘Well, let me ask you this? Did [the writer] come up with misunderestimate?’”

Today with Jenna and Hoda airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.