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VIDEO: Watch Obama And Leno Stand-Ups
The First Yuckster at the White House Correspondents Dinner tonight taunted Jay Leno before The Tonight Show host took the podium. “I am glad that the only person whose ratings fell more than mine is here tonight. Great to see you, Jay. I’m also glad that I’m speaking first – because we’ve all seen what happens when somebody takes the time slot after Leno.” Jay was seen laughing, turning red, and then standing up and saying to the people around him, “Goodnight, everybody.”
Leno quickly tried to return the favor during his 4th stand-up appearance at the dinner. But I can’t point to single joke that killed with the crowd. Instead, Leno’s barbs aimed at Obama were mostly dull like this: “When you were elected, I was a little worried the comedy well had dried up. So thank you for picking Joe Biden. I appreciate that.” And Leno’s voice grew soft when he mentioned that “President Obama loves to socialize — health care, car companies”, or that ”he has the most diverse staff at the White House. They represent every ward in Chicago.” As if Jay were embarrassed to get in any real digs at the Prez.
The laughs were few and far between despite Leno using a mutimedia combination of traditional punchlines, sight gags, and video mashups just like he does on The Tonight Show. Leno’s blandness meant he took only gentle aim at both the Democrats and the Republicans. Although this joke got perhaps the night’s biggest laugh: “As you know, a lot of Republicans couldn’t be here tonight because it is $1 drink night at the bondage clubs.” Then Leno gave a shout-out to GOP party chairman Michael Steele, noting, “This has got to be pretty boring entertainment for you, isn’t it? I know what you guys are used to. That was my favorite story: Republicans in a lesbian bondage club. Republicans don’t want lesbians marrying, but they do like to watch them tie the knot.”
And then Jay continued, “Washington is a very scary place. Between Republicans going to bondage clubs, and the SEC looking at porn, I cant wait to get back to Hollywood — somewhere wholesome, where people have values.”
A joke about Obama’s inability to throw a decent baseball pitch elicited audible groans from the audience (or maybe just the NBCU table): The President “had just come from an interview on MSNBC, and he was used to softballs.” When Jay heard the bad reaction, he added, “I’m going to get fired again.” And towards the end of his routine, knowing that his jokes had fallen flat for the most part, Jay complained, “Ooh, this is a tough room.” Like, duh.
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Obama had to talk smack about Leno, it’s how he doesn’t lose points with Conan fans for Leno hosting.
Did anyone actually find any of that tripe funny? It was pitiful when Bush use to do them, but his look like Comedy Central compared to this drivel.
Face the reality…..liberals just aren’t funny. They have no sense of humor and their jokes are dull at best. Why? Because they and their buddies the ‘social though police’ of egalitarian cumbaya have taken all the fun out of humor and roasts and jokes et al.
It was not Leno’s fault. That crowd is always tough…too concerned with themselves to listen and enjoy!!!!
The President was funnier than Leno.
Where were Stewart & Colbert?
You honestly think they would criticize Obama? they hob knob him every night.
you’ve obviously never actually watched either of their shows
Apparently you don’t actually watch their shows.
They are not very harsh, but they do critic Obama.
You obviously don’t watch the Daily Show, Jon is always making fun of Obama, Biden, Pelosi, and other Democrats.
You apparently don’t watch the Daily Show or the Colbert Report, they’ve made fun of him alot since he took office. But you would know that if you actually watched the show.
You don’t say! Bah Humbug!
Leno came across as boring with jokes that were so bad that you were embarrassed for the guy. NBC should never have taken this loser back…..what a disaster.
Always keep in mind when dealing with Pres. Obama you are careful what you say. He doesn’t take criticism very well. He can get nasty. So I think Leno was a afraid to be Leno with the President.
Oh, yeah! Obama is hilarious! I’m laughing so hard, I’m crying….
Leno is actually fairly “moderate” in a lot of things and actually conservative in others. He forgot the cardinal rule for comedy – know your audience.
I used to like him, but now that I’m old and go to bed WAY before he comes on, I have no opinion except for how he screwed over Conan. I hear his shows at the casinos are a real hoot, though, without the profanity laced tirades of lefty comedians. That should count for something. I’m betting his monologue on Monday night will be the real Obama roast.
That would be awesome to see the 2 of them there!
Obama funny!! ofcourse he’s funny he doesn’t make any sense.
I LOVE the fact that Leno’s jokes about Republicans were 100 times tougher than his jokes about Democrats. Such irony, considering that 95% of Leno’s fans are Far Right Republicans. He’s laughing at you, folks.
Strip away everything, and I’m pretty sure that Leno, supported on Drudge and idolized by the Palin crowd, is actually a die hard liberal.
After the way Colbert took down GWB a couple of years ago, only bland and gutless talent will be invited to work this dinner. So Leno suits it perfectly.
this, like the Oscars, are for the ‘in’ crowd and since Leno took aim at both dems and repubs, nobody thanked him for his even-keeled approach. I listened and thought it was funny – probably because Leno was poking fun AT the media and the President. Unlike last year when Sikes wanted Limbaugh to die and that got everyone laughing, Leno did a good job and that’s why I continue to watch him. He’s probably the last non-partisan guy up there and even when he did go after Obama, I thought, FINALLY, some levity regarding the President. Too bad nobody in the room thought it was funny – but then again, if they laughed, they probably wouldn’t be asked to be in the WH press room with Gibbs.
I Love Leno, he is the best talk show out there. If there is no Leno, there is nothing on, worth watching!!
Nothing, NOTHING, will top Hodgeman from last year. (Although the dig at Leno’s reaction to those take the spot after him was good.)
Rigid, leftist idealogues are not funny. A relentless atmosphere of corrupt, Chicago-style politics does not inspire knee-slapping hilarity.
leno is a louse. his references to palin were cheap and tacky, not humorous. what a weazel; ask conan.
Leno left Conan with $30 million bucks. He doesn’t look sad.
Everyone knows, one cannot make fun of or tell good jokes, about a bi-racial president, but one can knife Gov. Palin at every turn!
These parties sure aren’t up to the class of the Dean Martin Roasts, they are a waste of time and money!
I thought Leno’s jokes weren’t that bad. The MSNBC one was quite good.
For some real WHCA dinner humor, go check out GWB final dinner in 2008. TONS of self-deprication, shots across all bows, and some good ol’ fashion comedy. Even the new US citizen, Craig Ferguson was funnier than Leno.
Obama’s comedic timing was lagging farther behind than his timing of the response to the oil spill in the Gulf. At least after 8 days, his response team got moving. We won’t hear laughter from the WHCA dinner until President Palin starts in on them.
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Even the new US citizen, Craig Ferguson
wasis funnier than Leno.“>
Sorry – But in my opinion, Jay is past his prime
Obama has done nothing yet to help the spill effort except let the coast guard do their job. He is visiting for the first time today, May 2 2010, The spill began on April 22, that is ten days. At least bumbling Bush visted five days after Katrina. It is the Louisiana and Mississippi locals who are putting forth the effort to try and avert a tragedy. …and BP who is on the hook for this one. Bobby Jindal and Haley Barbor are the leaders there. To this crisis Obama is acting like it is a petty annoyance.
And wasn’t it Obama that recently changed his message to “drill here, drill now”, but they (the dems) would like to forget that…
Hey, do you remember the one WHCD where Bush showed a slide show where he pretended to look for WMD in his office. “Nope, not in here either”. Yup…that there is some comedy. Joking about the LIE that got thousands of our soldiers killed in Iraq.
Bush always looked like he was fishing for a laugh. Obama always looks like he is having a good time. I would pay money to watch him.
Bush, foget-about-it!
Obvious liberal. While your hate for W is apparent, paint mine for the annointed one the same.
Oh You are “paying” to watch him and you get to see his “jokes” every day so you should not be disappointed.
The President isn’t known as a particularly witty fellow–his talks to fifth graders and his graduations speeches are read from Teleprompters and written by government speech writers.
I have to wonder, how much money is taken from our paychecks to have the president’s speech writers make jokes about his political rivals? I bust my back at work doing very hard labor, something with which this president is obviously completely unfamiliar. The money he tosses around for government employees may be meaningless to him, but a lot of do break our backs for every single dollar. I do wish he had an ounce of respect for that, rather than using us as photo ops and pretexts everytime he wants to expand inefficient and wasteful government power.
And while I realize that a lot of work went into wrtiting the President Obama scripted jokes, was it really a good idea for him to be cracking jokes while one of the biggest ecological disasters in American history erupts in the Mississipi Delta after the goverment took essentially no action for a week and a half to prevent it?
Neal … funny comment; you are paying to watch him. LOL
I would pay money to watch him
you do!
Who do you think paid for Obama’s jokes. The taxpayers, of course. You don’t think he came up with those lines himself, do you? The jokes on us. Literally.
ALL presidents have their speechwriters’ help in writing jokes. Even the Republican ones. Know something before you say something.
Speech writing is a business — for politicians or for comedians. If we wonder about taxpayer money going for an occasional humorous speech, perhaps we should look at who’s footing the bill for that very pricey but popular Tea Party spokesperson. Maybe she should contribute 20% of her profits to the result of “drill, baby, drill.” Awwwww….but, you know, that’s really BPs issue to foot the bill. And who will ultimately pay THAT bill? Those of us who use the pump. Or…maybe BP will go broke. And then all those people that work for BP will be out of work.
all I can say about Obama’s speech writer for this particular appearance — it was some of the most sophisticated humor I’ve heard in a long time, esp. from a President! AND…it was one of the few times I felt like my tax money was being well spent. He even made a “bleep” comment, making fun of one of Biden’s more delightfully spontaneous comments. Yeah…maybe he shouldn’t use those words so close to the mic, but at least it was used in a positive way….and not making a derogatory remark about “that f-ing a-hole NYT reporter,” picked up from a previous president.
Even if you think he’s a lousy president, Obama’s got a great future as a late night talk show host. He’s smart, quick, and his deadpan delivery is great. And those predatory drone daughters….boy, I know what THAT is like. I got two of my own. It’s scary. And neither of them got that joke, because they didn’t know what a drone was. Signing off, before I drone on WAY too long…
That’s our good time president….., just having fun while the Gulf Coast fishing life is on the edge of extinction. Just happy he was able to squeeze in some laughs, that’s the main thing.
And she won’t even have to say a word to make them laugh, will she?
I take it you were kidding.
I see the Drudgetards are out. This “8 days before doing anything” meme is such bullshit, and needs to be nipped in the bud, quick. BP did not admit to the true scope of the accident for several days:
“For days, as an oil spill spread in the Gulf of Mexico, BP assured the government the plume was manageable, not catastrophic. Federal authorities were content to let the company handle the mess while keeping an eye on the operation.
But then government scientists realized the leak was five times larger than they had been led to believe, and days of lulling statistics and reassuring words gave way Thursday to an all-hands-on-deck emergency response. Now questions are sure to be raised about a self-policing system that trusted a commercial operator to take care of its own mishap even as it grew into a menace imperiling Gulf Coast nature and livelihoods from Florida to Texas.”
I’m sure if Obama stepped in too soon, you’d be accusing him of not letting corporations police themselves and too much gubmint intervention.
Better trolls, please.
FAIL. But thanks for playing. Please, enlighten us as to what he actually is doing.
Hey, the administration said they were on it since day one. Which is it? Oh yeah. They get it both ways.
You’re out of your mind. Period. No one except a bunch of whining, screaming, zealous, narrowminded neo-cons are even thinking about Palin. She will never be anything other than what she is, an opportunist who has taken her 15 minutes of fame to make $$$ for herself….
That’s the funniest joke I’ve seen on this page. Unfortunately Palin committed political suicide by resigning as governor. That single thing makes it impossible to stay alive in a presidential campaign. She is aware that being a celebrity is the only option she’ll have for the rest of her days, and that is okay with her.
The commander in chief with the commander in thief. Leno, who stole the show from Conan, deservedly played comic doofus for the throngs of political elite whose collective intellect was only surpassed by the amount of silicone and Botox in use by the patrons.
Actually, Obama is the real “commander-in-thief.” Stealing as much money as he can from our paychecks…plans for stealing our 1st amendment by shutting down the Internet by executive order… Stealing our constitutional right to protect ourselves…stealing as much freedoms as he can, for the set up of the obviously-rising police state that he’s been ordered to create.
Of course the ultimate thieves are the international bankers (no, not the side show re: Goldman so they can ram down our throats another turd they want us to believe is, “legislation” or “financail reform”…though Goldman is a tool, too)…time to start questioning authority. Remember what that was Boomers?!
Jay Leno, though, is possibly beginning the journey on the way to becoming a has-been after the coup of Conan.
Since Leno had been on far longer on national TV than Conan, who was stealing what from whom?
What part of “NBC OWNS THE TONIGHT SHOW, NOT LENO” don’t you guys understand. O’Brien didn’t produce the ratings so out he goes. Leno does what he’s told or he retires! Can’t imagine there are so many dumb-asses in the U.S.!
The left has no sense of humor….
Have you ever seen the daily show? Or any other comedian, ever?
Amen to that! I think Jay is very funny, and fair; he doesn’t just pick on repubs, but dems as well…equally. And with the same fervor. I thought some of the jokes Obummer told were just plain mean, which is what the extremist lefties in the audience like, because they’re mean-spirited. All one has to do is listen to a Bill Maher diatribe once to understand what I’m talking about!
I noticed a night or two before this that Leno did not make any Obama jokes but did do one about Bush. How odd.
Shocker, the media didn’t laugh at Leno’s obama jokes.
Imagine, Nikki thought Leno bombed. It was the audience that was bombed. Not only will the mainstream media not laugh at a joke about Obama, they will not comment on the hypocrisy of the left who have suddeny found Nazis in Arizona just as they did in the Tea Party. They ignore the geat waste of tax money that was the Stimulus Act just as they ignore the rampant unemployment the Act was supposed to keep below 8%. The media are a bunch of lap dogs.
The President was funny because he IS a joke.
He was but then we elected a real President.
The President was funnier than Leno.
Where were Stewart & Colbert?
——–
Bag that, where was Dolomite?
That’s Dolomite, Mother F*-er!
The Washington press corps is fiercely protective of Obama and his socialist policies. No wonder it was a tough room for Leno. The Washington press practically worships at Obama’s feet anyway. They slave away every day at their keyboards promoting socialism, and higher taxes, in the hope that they can inflate Obama’s poll numbers. Too bad Obama is not more like John F. Kennedy. Kennedy actually enjoyed having comedians come to the White House… and he enjoyed seeing their Kennedy impersonations where they made fun of his Harvard accent.
Obama signed into law the largest tax cut in history passed by the democrats in congress. That would seem to say to me that he hasn’t raised taxes. The opposite has in fact been the case. Get your facts strait and turn of the Glenn Beck variety hour.
Not only did Leno have to be careful around Obama’s rear end kissing press friends, but Obama is also black. A lose-lose situation for Leno. Why did he go? And you are right JFK would have welcomed the jokes.
Wow, Leno did rather poorly tonight! They should’ve had someone funny do it, like say…..Conan O’Brien!
Conan O’Brian funny? Yall gotta be funnin us!
All of the videos Leno showed were old clips from the Tonight Show. And they were all lame as can be. Pathetic. They should’ve invited Conan instead but that would’ve taken some courage of which they have none. “Oh we can’t invite Conan it’d be too controversial.”
Conan and controversial?
More like Conan and “he stole my shoowwww” *waaahhhhh*tears*
Sadly, I wish Obama had gone to focus on the oil spill rather than laughing in a room full of ego-maniacs.
Delta D; the best comment of the evening. The funniest thing is that O didn’t cancel this appearance so he could get to the oil spill in less than 10 days.
Jeez! Send Barack to oil spill, Leno back to his show and let’s have a laugh just like the old days and bring back Dubya
Yeah…Dubya didn’t even have to try to sound stupid. He is a natural born stand up comic with expressions to match, lol. Stupid is as stupid does. If what he did to our country wasn’t so devestating I could laugh. What a moron.
Hey Diann,the reason our country is in such devastating shape is not Bush’s fault. It’s a result of the Dems controlling the house and Senate and tying his hands every time he tried to do something right. Get your facts straight. Maybe you should have done the comedy, you’ve got a pretty funny thing going there yourself
Dwell in the past much? I think they have a patch now for that Bush Derangement Syndrome. Maybe once you can get past that you actually catch up on the past 1 1/2 years.
I laughed my ass off, thanks Jay.
The liberals hate Leno because he pokes fun at both parties and they can’t take a joke.
Letterman attacks Republicans and they enjoy that. Sounds like Barry got his lame jokes from Dirty Dave.
And Leno is number one Obama. It’s Letterman who’s behind even Nightline…again.
Again, liberal Stephen Colbert bombed (in the room) in front of those very same people in 2006.
This surprises anybody?
Ionly caught a little of it before I left the room, but I will no longer watching Leno, I already do not watch Obama.
I thought Jay was funny.
Gee Nikki…surprised are we that Obama jokes “fell flat” in a room full of partisan whores??? You no doubt felt very comfy there among them if you were there…
Libs dont like it when you make fun of Libs. Most of the audience was Obama lapdogs. All they wanted was to hear Bush that and Sarah palin this.