Saturday Night Live's comedic genius Will Ferrell has been making parodies about America's former president for years, with several episodes of SNL and a few YouTube skits, and eventually approached director Adam McKay and producer Jeffrey Richards about putting together a sort of “farewell” to the Bush reign. According to press notes, “it's a time for a change in America, but not without a few parting words from the 43rd President of the United States. Don't miss your chance to discover the man behind the myth, the truth behind the lies and the logic behind the illogical in this limited Broadway event.” Previews opened the night Bush's predecessor President Barack Obama took over the Oval Office and will continue its limited run through March 15, so head over to http://www.stubhub.com/will-ferrell-youre-welcome-america-broadway-tickets for your own You're Welcome America tickets today!



While it's not a one man show, as Ferrell is joined on stage by Michael Delaney, Patrick Ferrell, Pia Glenn and Adam Mucci, the “unique theatrical event,” according to the show's producer Jeffrey Richards, “is a very special thank you to George W. Bush that we hope will have people rolling off the aisles.” Choosing Broadway rather than something like HBO or the Hollywood Bowl, director Adam McKay and Ferrell both grew up surrounded by theatre so it had always been a lifetime desire to create a show worth such a stage presence. As comedians have been bashing the President during his eight year run, this show is anything but another Saturday Night Live parody but rather a brasher look at the President's near decade run. As Ferrell has been perfecting his Bush imitation for more than eight years, his dimension has gone beyond the initial “frat” boy (which first started before Bush had even announced his Republican nomination), to become so intricate and “beyond cartoonish,” as McKay notes, that Ferrell's “multiple levels” make the show much more developed.

Full of jokes and sarcasm, Ferrell talks to PlayBill about his evolving character and its final run. “[The character has] probably evolved without me knowing, as in you feel more comfortable the longer you do something, but that's kind of the beauty of that persona, is that in a weird way I don't put too much thought into it. There's a lot of hard work that goes into it, but one of the sad things is that he remained through the entire time, so playing it remained the same.” As he reminisces about some of his favorite Bush memories (the “China door episode” or his colorful ensembles, everything from Mission Accomplished suits to a cowboy hat), Ferrell appreciates that his show remains a satire, but perhaps a necessary one.

No matter the result of the latest election, Ferrell was going to release his self-penned script to Broadway's Cort Theatre (which he selected specifically for its long history of political shows and optimal layout) as a way to remind American's just what we've been through these past eight years. The California native was adamant that “our tendency is to forgive and forget, and we've gone through a period of eight years that we probably shouldn't forget so quickly and we kind of need to be reminded of. The purpose of the show is to make people laugh, first, but there were a bunch of things that we were excited to comment on, and in doing the research there was an issue with how much stuff that happened that you can't remember it all, so it's good from a satire standpoint,” Ferrell continued with PlayBill.

HBO plans on airing a special You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush March 14th with direction by Marty Callner.