Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Dana Carvey Channels His Nuttiest John Bolton on Colbert—& It's Unsettlingly Amusing

Dana Carvey Channels His Nuttiest John Bolton on Colbert—& It's Unsettlingly Amusing
CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

On Friday, March 23, President Trump appointed former United Nations ambassador John Bolton to replace H.R. McMaster as his National Security Advisor. The news that McMaster was going to be replaced didn't come as a surprise to many—he and the President had butted heads for quite some time, and in the wake of Hope Hicks' departure as Communications Director, Trump has been much less hesitant about shaking up the personnel at the White House. What DID surprise many was the appointment of Bolton, an obscure Bush-era diplomat with a reputation for aggressive tactics and threatening behaviors. Stephen Colbert thought the issue warranted some discussion with Bolton himself (as played by Dana Carvey).


Carvey's Bolton is as hilarious as it is terrifying.

In the clip, "Bolton" swings by the show to ease Colbert's fears, but quickly makes matters much worse. He threatens to chase Stephen down a hotel hallway flinging staplers at him, and also mentioned sending some "big fat tanks" into North Korea. Meanwhile, his mustache grew ever larger because it "gets a bit engorged when it smells a war coming on."

Bolton's mustache even weighed in on the performance:

But it turns out Carvey's impression is a little too close for comfort.

Bolton was actually blocked from his original U.N. appointment by Congress, who kept him away from the position after receiving a message from over 60 retired diplomats speaking against him. Though Bolton's professional career is plenty controversial (he once said that if the U.N. headquarters "lost ten stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference"), his former colleagues major problem with him was one of character.

During his confirmation hearings, his mistreatment of underlings and embellishment of facts both became sticking points.

In 2005, TIME ran an article detailing some of Bolton's alleged incidents. Here's a particularly revealing excerpt:

Government sources tell TIME that during President Bush's first term, Bolton frequently tried to push the CIA to produce information to conform to—and confirm—his views. "Whenever his staff sent testimony, speeches over for clearance, often it was full of stuff which was not based on anything we could find," says a retired official familiar with the intelligence-clearance process. "So the notes that would go back to him were fairly extensive, saying the intelligence just didn't back up that line."

Those episodes, sources say, frequently involved statements Bolton wanted to make about the malign intentions and weapons capabilities of Cuba and North Korea. Two analysts—one at the State Department and the other at the CIA—told the committee they had run afoul of Bolton in 2002 after they warned that he was making assertions in a speech about Cuba's weapons programs that could not be backed up by U.S. intelligence. Bolton, they said, tried to have them removed from their jobs. Witnesses say that after one of the analysts, Christian Westermann, wrote an internal memo warning of Bolton's embellishments, he was summoned to Bolton's office and subjected to a finger-wagging tirade. Westermann's boss at the time, Carl W. Ford Jr., told the committee in a public hearing two weeks ago that he considered Bolton "a serial abuser" of underlings and "a quintessential kiss-up, kickdown sort of guy."

​Bolton eventually bypassed Congressional approval by filling a vacancy left by his predecessor.

Well, if things get bad, at least we'll always have this photoset of Dana Carvey in progressively larger mustaches to keep our spirits high!

H/T - Huffpost, TIME, CNN

More from Entertainment/celebrities

Donald Trump
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

People Bring Receipts After White House Claims Photo Of Trump Asleep During Oval Office Event Was Just Him 'Blinking'

After President Donald Trump appeared to fall asleep during an event on maternal health in the Oval Office on Monday, people brought the receipts when an official White House account claimed he was simply "blinking."

The event was used to launch moms.gov, a new federal resource hub focused on prenatal care, nutrition, and postpartum support, along with information on employer fertility benefits and expanded childcare options, including assistance for stay-at-home parents.

Keep ReadingShow less
Dr. Mehmet Oz
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Dr. Oz Just Made An Alarming Comment About Fertility Rates That Sounds Straight Out Of 'The Handmaid's Tale'

Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump's administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, made an alarming comment about fertility rates, declaring that 1 in 3 Americans are "under-babied."

In the United States, infertility affects roughly 9% of men and 11% of women, while globally the figure is estimated at about one in six people.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump Jr.; Donald Trump
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Don Jr.'s Old Tweet Praising His Father For Avoiding War With Iran Just Resurfaced—And It's Aged Like Milk

As President Donald Trump's war with Iran rages on, his son Donald Trump Jr. is facing criticism after an old tweet he wrote praising his father for avoiding war with Iran resurfaced.

Back in April 2024, the president's eldest son wrote the following on X:

Keep ReadingShow less
Images of Savannah and Nancy Guthrie
@savannahguthrie/Instagram

Savannah Guthrie Shares Heartfelt Video Of Her Missing Mom On Mother's Day: 'We Miss You With Every Breath'

Today co-host Savannah Guthrie's mother, 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, was declared missing on February 1, 2026, after she did not routinely arrive at church that morning, and a well-check confirmed that her home was empty and the door was left wide open.

Due to her need for multiple medications, including for her pacemaker, and her limited mobility, the Pima County Police Department deemed her case a high priority, soon welcoming the help of the FBI.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; Robert Jeffress
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Fox News

Trump Backs Pastor's Claim That He Has A 'Better Understanding' Of The Bible Than Pope Leo—And People Are Furious

On Saturday, MAGA Republican President Donald Trump chose to promote an interview with controversial anti-LGBTQ+ Baptist minister Robert Jeffress by posting a clip from Fox News on Truth Social. In the interview, Jeffress repeatedly stroked Trump's ego, flattering him incessantly.

A Fox News contributor, Jeffress was on to talk about Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to the Vatican to give Pope Leo XIV a crystal football.

Keep ReadingShow less