The “Saturday Night Live” star says he has trouble nailing down Musk’s “South Africa via Canada” speech
Published November 24, 2024 10:40AM (EST)
Elon Musk on stage before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY on Sunday, October 27, 2024. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Dana Carvey has a knack for impersonation. The comedian’s run on “Saturday Night Live” was so iconic that we’re willing to bet most people under the age of 50 hear him in their heads when they try to recall George H.W. Bush’s speaking voice. Still, he’s far from perfect, and there’s one recent celebrity whose voice has eluded him.
“I can’t do Elon Musk very well,” Carvey shared on an episode of his “Superfly” podcast. “But I can do something that sounds not like anything. He has an incredible accent — South Africa via Canada, via Pennsylvania. It’s almost like, it’s a little bit of Australian in there, a little bit of British, but he’s not totally that.”
Carvey played Musk once during his election season return to “Saturday Night Live,” drawing criticism from the billionaire and vaguely defined member of the Donald Trump administration. Carvey’s bouncing and buffoonish take on Musk’s sycophancy struck a chord, with the Tesla head commenting on it on X.
“SNL has been dying slowly for years, as they become increasingly out of touch with reality. Their last-ditch effort to cheat the equal airtime requirements and prop up Kamala before the election only helped sink her campaign further,” he wrote.
Musk agreed that Carvey didn’t quite have him down.
“Dana Carvey just sounds like Dana Carvey,” he said.
The majority of Carvey’s recent “Saturday Night Live” appearances showed off his doddering and bewildered take on Joe Biden. Carvey said he’s planning to grace studio 8H again in December but gave no hints as to who he’d be playing.
