In 2001, the TV show ‘That’s My Bush!‘ placed the U.S. president in a world governed by sitcom logic rather than real politics. The White House came with bright studio lights, loud canned laughter, stock characters walking in and out, and jokes that felt pulled straight from old network television.
The president’s daily life looked less like governing a country and more like surviving a noisy workplace comedy. And what made this setup even stranger was the fact that it was carefully planned, down to every outdated TV trope.
Why ‘That’s My Bush!’ Was Written Like An Old-School Sitcom
From April 4 to May 23, 2001, Comedy Central aired eight episodes of a live-action sitcom called ‘That’s My Bush!‘ The 30-minute show starred Timothy Bottoms as George W. Bush and imagined his presidency as a classic 1980s-style workplace comedy. Everything about the show felt intentionally old-fashioned. The lighting stayed bright and flat. The laugh track was loud and constant. And the sets looked fake on purpose.
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Right away, the show made its intentions clear. Timothy Bottoms leaned into Bush’s real-life mannerisms, copying his drawl and facial expressions closely. Kurt Fuller played Karl Rove as stiff and humorless, while Carrie Quinn Dolin played Laura Bush. The goal was always exaggeration. Matt Stone and Trey Parker used the Bush administration as the setting, but they weren’t just mocking Bush.
They were really mocking traditional American sitcoms. Episodes touched on real political topics like abortion and the death penalty, but the bigger joke was how those serious issues were squeezed into predictable sitcom stories.
Sitcom Characters And A Backup Version No One Saw
To complete the sitcom feel, the White House was filled with familiar character types. Larry, the messy and annoying neighbor played by John D’Aquino, wandered in like he belonged next door. Princess, the clueless secretary played by Kristen Miller, acted like a cartoon version of a sitcom assistant. Maggie, the overworked maid, was played by ‘The Simpsons‘ actress Marcia Wallace.
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In fact, Bush himself had a repeated catchphrase: “One of these days, Laura, I’m gonna punch you in the face!” Each time Timothy Bottoms delivered the line, the studio audience chanted along before erupting into applause. The joke directly parodied Jackie Gleason’s famous threat from ‘The Honeymooners‘, where he shouted, “Pow! Right in the kisser!” However, what happened behind the scenes made the story even stranger.
According to DVD commentary, they actually created two sitcoms at the same time, one for Bush and one for Al Gore. Trey Parker later said he was 95% sure Gore would win the 2000 election. If that had happened, the show would’ve been called ‘Everybody Loves Al!‘ and used the same sitcom setup and characters. But because the election went through a long recount, production was delayed by a month. Bush lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College, which caused national controversy.
Why The Show Didn’t Last Long
Another DVD commentary track explained how the episodes were written. Stone and Parker used a two-sided dry-erase board. One side listed hot political issues. The other side listed plots taken straight from ‘Three’s Company‘. They mixed the two and built episodes from there. The approach worked. Timothy Bottoms received praise for his performance, and the show gave its version of Bush a clear personality.
At times, he even showed liberal values. The series openly mocked the “clean” sitcoms many Americans grew up watching, even though shows like Married… with Children, Seinfeld, and The Simpsons had already challenged those ideas years earlier. The humor could get very uncomfortable.
One abortion-focused episode introduced Felix the Fetus, a puppet who survived an abortion and then argued against abortion laws. Even with fairly positive reviews and a lot of attention, ‘That’s My Bush!‘ didn’t continue. Parker later said the show became too expensive. As the creators got more ambitious, each episode ended up costing around $1 million.
Just four months after the show ended, the September 11 attacks happened. Continuing to portray Bush as a goofy, lovable sitcom character would’ve felt impossible in that moment. Stone and Parker later returned to political satire with 2004’s Team America: World Police, again using puppets to comment on American politics. But ‘That’s My Bush!‘ remains a strange, short-lived experiment that disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived.
