''You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush'' is a comedic

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

play written by and starring American comedian

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for his leading man roles in comedy films and for his work as a television producer. Ferrell received various accolades, including ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

, which ran from February 5 to March 15, 2009. The play is directed by Ferrell's long-time comedy partner,

Adam McKay Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. McKay began his career as a head writer for the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') from 1995 to 2001. After leaving ''SNL'', McKay co-w ...

, who previously worked with him on his comedy films ''

Anchorman A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

'' and ''

Talladega Nights ''Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby'' is a 2006 American sports comedy film rom-com directed by Adam McKay who co-wrote the film with Will Ferrell. It features Ferrell as the titular Ricky Bobby, an immature yet successful NASCAR dri ...

''. According to a review at ''The Improper.com'', "Combined with lewd humor and an uncanny cast of characters to help him drive home his alter ego's

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the desert climate, arid and semiarid climate, semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Texa ...

mannerisms, Ferrell’s showpiece is a true delight." The play is based on Ferrell's George W. Bush impression, which originated from the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

sketch comedy show ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' (''SNL''). The first appearance of Ferrell's character appeared in the show's 26th season, which took place during the controversial

2000 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 2000. Republican Party (United States), Republican Governor George W. Bush of Texas, the eldest son of 41st President George H. W. Bush, ...

. The play carries over some qualities of Ferrell's character that replicates the same comedic element as seen on the popular late night show. The play broke the house record at the Cort Theater, taking in $846,507.05 for the week that ended on February 15, 2009. The show was broadcast live on the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

cable channel, as well as in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, on March 14, 2009, at 9:00p.m. EST.

Richard Ouzounian Richard Ouzounian (born March 8, 1950) is a Canadian journalist and theatre artist. He was the chief theatre critic for the ''Toronto Star'' and the Canadian theatre correspondent for ''Variety''. Early life, family and education Ouzounian was b ...

. "Will Ferrell's masterful and frightening portrayal of Bush." March 03, 2009, ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'' 2 It was released to

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

on November 3, 2009.

Plot

The play starts with President Bush (Ferrell) telling the audience that this is his final farewell to the country. He then makes jokes about his life, such as his college years at Yale, his nickname “Gin and Tonic,” being born in Connecticut, his business that went bankrupt, and the Texas legislation which he as Governor signed into law that designated a day as "Jesus Day." Some of Bush's stories are humorous but false, such as having a sexual relationship with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and being AWOL from the Air National Guard. Bush's Secret Service agent Jerry dances onstage (sometimes with Bush's pilot) while Ferrell is offstage changing costume. Bush confronts a heckler in the third row, who is part of the cast. The play also acknowledges the hard decisions Bush faced during his term, such as deciding to send troops to the Middle East.

Significance

The play, which took place less than a month after Bush left office, was meant as a final farewell not only to the former president himself but also to Ferrell's impression of the former president.

Cast

* Patrick Ferrell as Jerry, The

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...

Agent * Pia Glenn as

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...

* Adam Mucci as Pilot * Michael Delaney as Audience Heckler

Staff

* Louis Colaianni: Vocal coach

DVD notes

Husband and wife performers

Kevin Kline Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. In a career spanning over five decades, he has become a prominent leading man across both Kevin Kline on screen and stage, stage and screen. List of awards and nominations recei ...

and

Phoebe Cates Phoebe Belle Cates Kline (born July 16, 1963) is an American businesswoman and retired actress and model. She appeared in the films '' Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982), '' Gremlins'' (1984), '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' (1990), '' Drop D ...

are visible in the audience. Also visible in the audience are

Edward Norton Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. After graduating from Yale College in 1991 with a degree in history, he worked for a few months in Japan before moving to New York City ...

Adam Levine Adam Noah Levine ( ; born March 18, 1979) is an American musician who is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and sole continuous member of the pop rock band Maroon 5. Levine began his musical career in 1994 with the band Kara's Flowers, for ...

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

, and

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WT ...

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{George W. Bush Films about George W. Bush 2009 plays Broadway plays Cultural depictions of George W. Bush HBO network specials 2000s American television specials 2009 television specials American plays Plays based on real people Plays set in the United States Works by Will Ferrell