At some points there will be stuff to make fun of about Obama. There always is, when it comes to presidents.
CNN: I watched the special last night, and I noticed that you did a lot of jokes about John McCain — his age, his war hero story — but not so many about Barack Obama. Is it harder to make fun of Obama?
Chris Rock: He’s just one of those guys, you know, like Will Smith. There’s no Will Smith jokes. There’s no Brad Pitt jokes. You know, what are you going to say? ‘Ooh, you used to have sex with Jennifer Anniston. Now you have sex with Angelina Jolie. You’re such a loser.’ What do you say? ‘Ooh, your movies are big. You make $20 million.’ There’s nothing to say about Brad Pitt.
CNN: Why is Obama like that?
Rock: It’s like ‘Ooh, you’re young and virile and you’ve got a beautiful wife and kids. You’re the first African-American president.’ You know, what do you say?
CNN: As time goes on do you think it will get easier?
Rock: Of course, as time goes on. At some point he’s going to — there’s always slip-ups. No one can survive that level of scrutiny without occasionally making it easy for a comedian.
This is the reason that there haven’t been many good Obama SNL skits. It’s not because Fred Armisen does a poor job– it’s because there’s really not much to make fun of (yet).
George Carlin once said that you can make fun of anything, if you want to — and to prove it, made a series of rape jokes. They weren’t great, but they were moderately funny.
If professional comedians aren’t making fun of Obama, it’s because they don’t want to.
J.
Jay Tea: George Carlin once said that you can make fun of anything, if you want to — and to prove it, made a series of rape jokes. They weren’t great, but they were moderately funny.
If professional comedians aren’t making fun of Obama, it’s because they don’t want to.
Your bias is showing again.
Maybe if professional comedians aren’t making fun of Obama, it’s because they don’t want to settle for jokes that are only “moderately funny”.
I heard Jamie Foxx on the radio this morning. Apparently he did an Obama impersonation at yesterday’s party. He sounded dead on.
About 10 years ago I had an argument with my Dad about making Bill Clinton jokes. I was on the pro-joke side. As Chris Rock says, the nature of the job is such that you’re going to make a boo-boo that is comedic. Cons have themselves convinced there’s a liberal entertainer conspiracy, but the reality is Obama hasn’t provided material yet. I mean, look at the election – your choices were Obama, McCain, Biden, and Palin. Sarah Palin wins hands-down for comedic goldmine. Her nomination was like the veep shooting his best friend in the face!
So far with Obama we’ve had Fred Armissen doing unfunny things. The best Obama comedy I’ve seen so far has been this guy on Youtube. Way better than Armissen.
I’ll quote Dave “Iowahawk” Burge’s 2009 year in review:
Hell, I remember Robin Williams cracking the first joke about 9/11, and that one was brilliant.
In the middle of the night…
*RING*
BUSH: “Hello?”
ARAFAT: “I wanted to call and offer my condolences for the World Trade Center.”
BUSH: “What? Nothing’s happened to the World Trade Center.”
ARAFAT: “What? Wait… what time is it there?”
BUSH: “It’s one in the morning.”
ARAFAT: “FUCK! I forgot about the time difference!”
J.
Iowahawk: Not funny.
Robin Williams: Funny.
I don’t really think it counts as making fun of Obama, but Barackula the Musical is certainly quite funny.
http://www.barackula.com/
Jay Tea, that reminds me of a joke that Brezhnev used to tell about his problems dealing with the large number of time zones in Soviet Union and the confusion it caused him while travelling all over the country:
“It’s really confusing! I call up the Prime Minister to congratulate him on his election, and I’m a day late! I call up the Vatican to offer condolenses on the death of the Pope, and I’m a day early!”
I think The Onion’s done a decent job, between “Black Guy Asks Nation For Change” and “Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job”. But those aren’t exactly about Obama himself.
The best jokes about President Obama have come from _him_, like when he did the joint thing with McCain and referred to himself as coming from the same planet as Superman.
A smart, competent guy who is also incredibly humble — this is why America chose him, and this is why we’re getting our country back from eight years of Republican incompetence today.
A-f’ing-men.
And The Onion’s “Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job” was hilarious. I’ll bet Obama himself would laugh at that.
The Iowahawk thing is too likely to be true to be very funny. I’m already stocking up on blue and cyan ink just in case.
J. G. Thayer: “If professional comedians aren’t making fun of Obama, it’s because they don’t want to.”
Does that martyr’s complex ever get tiresome?
I’ll quote Dave “Iowahawk” Burge’s 2009 year in review
Jay Tea, if you believe that this is such a good joke, then perhaps you can explain to us why it is funny. Details, please.
Tyro, every time I explain a joke, it kills the joke. If you don’t get it, sorry.
And I never said it was a “great” joke, just that it played up one way to make fun of Obama.
J.
In addition to being stupid, it’s now clear to me that Republicans have got to be the lamest people to hang out with socially.
Jaim, just imagine that, instead of it being Obama saying the “print your own money” bit, it was Bush. It’ll be funnier to you then.
Man, if the only time liberals think that jokes about the president are funny is when the president himself makes them, it’s going to be a long, unfunny four years for them.
In addition to being stupid, it’s now clear to me that Republicans have got to be the lamest people to hang out with socially
I’m sure they’re a laugh-a-minute if you’re into fart jokes.
At a certain point, Republicans became the irony-free-party, and wordplay became considered an offense to God (”words do not evolve! they were designed!”). At this point, there were no longer any conservatives left who were funny intentionally.
There was an amusing SNL skit with Obama. It was the Gen. Petraeus hearings skit back in April of ‘08:
J. G. Thayer: “And I never said it was a ‘great’ joke, just that it played up one way to make fun of Obama.”
How? How is it making fun of Obama?
SFC B: “Man, if the only time liberals think that jokes about the president are funny is when the president himself makes them, it’s going to be a long, unfunny four years for them.”
It’s going to be a long 8 years dealing with lies like the one you just told.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the liklihood of finding a joke about a politician funny is inversely proportional to whether you support them or not, especially if you are partisan..
SFC B: “Man, if the only time liberals think that jokes about the president are funny is when the president himself makes them, it’s going to be a long, unfunny four years for them.”
Comatose for the last eight years, perhaps?
BUSHISMS
PD100, what I had said was in response to Jaim’s comment @ 19:34. There is no end of evidence to show that liberals have a GREAT sense of humor about the POTUS when he’s not Obama.
SFC B: “PD100, what I had said was in response to Jaim’s comment @ 19:34. There is no end of evidence to show that liberals have a GREAT sense of humor about the POTUS when he’s not Obama.”
Show me a funny joke about Obama and we can test that theory. Until then, you are simply lying about the other side.
Haplo9: “I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the liklihood of finding a joke about a politician funny is inversely proportional to whether you support them or not, especially if you are partisan..”
There were a lot of funny Bill Clinton jokes. A lot of them.
“Barack and Michelle Obama are looking for a church in Washington to attend. They have to ask every prospective pastor the same question: ‘Have you ever been videotaped screaming ‘God damn America!’?”
“Barack and Michelle Obama are looking for a church in Washington to attend. They have to ask every prospective pastor the same question: ‘Have you ever been videotaped screaming ‘God damn America!’?”
I admit it. I laughed out loud. I award 3 out of 5 stars.
My favorite recent Bill Clinton joke was Darrell Hammond on SNL commenting on whether Sarah Palin is ready to be president:
“In my experience, sometimes, when you ask a woman to do something, she might be a little uncomfortable at first…”
I heard it on one of the late-night folks. Can’t remember who. The radio station I listen to repeats clips from the talk shows during the morning drive-time.
The issue w/ the Clinton joke you’re telling though is that it’s a joke about Clinton after he has left office. It’s making fun of what he did while in there, but it has the advantage of being 8 years later.
I watched SNL a lot when CLinton was president (I was in college at the time) and I can only remember one skit about Clinton, and it wasn’t about Clinton. It was a rip on Monica, Linda Tripp, and Ken Starr. I don’t remember anything that was an obvious joke at Clinton’s expense while he was in office on SNL. But that is probably just my memory going bad.
Show me someone who writes
Oh man, I forgot when Stewart pointed out, like two weeks after then-Senator Obama made a big show about not having to wear a US Flag lapel pin, he was wearing a US-Israeli flag pin at an appearance.
“I don’t remember anything that was an obvious joke at Clinton’s expense while he was in office on SNL.”
Just to be clear, you’re joking, right?
The first “Clinton” on SNL was Phil Hartman. Later it was Darrel Hammond, who IMO did the best parody of an American politician of all time (”I feel your pain!”). But Will Ferrel as Bush II is also great.
So SFC B, please stop talking out of your ass.
Jaim, you’re showing your youth. You’re forgetting Jon Lovitz as Michael Dukakis and the single-greatest impression of all time — Dana Carvey as George H. W. Bush. (”Not gonn’ do it!”)
And I’m gonna do what I said I wouldn’t do, and kill a joke. The Iowahawk joke is based on Obama’s plan to stimulate the economy through increased consumer spending, tied in with both China’s holding of a massive amount of US debt and Obama’s phrase “we are the change we have been waiting for.” Yes, it could have been made about Bush, but the tag line would have had to have been adapted for him.
And Haplo, I guess I’m the exception that proves the rule. I voted for Bush twice, and I’ve laughed at him countless times. I think my favorites were either his comment on the dwindling specialized care for pregnant women that “too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country” or “people sometimes have to correct my English. I knew I had a problem when Arnold Schwarzenegger started doing it.”
Obama… his self-deprecating humor is a recent development. It’s a welcome one, though. Previously, his humor was often based on putting others down.
J.
And I’m gonna do what I said I wouldn’t do, and kill a joke. The Iowahawk joke…
… has no sense of comedic timing and no funny, unexpected twist. Your explanation doesn’t even show the joke having any humoristic elements. It’s “let me insert Obama’s campaign slogan into some sort of situation to make him look dumb.” Actually, as I alluded to above, you and IowaHawk might find it funny because it’s similar to a fart joke.
Though it strikes me that if you’re a Ron Paul goldbug bitching about fiat currency you might find it hilarious… in a similar way, I might enjoy a good compiler joke every now and then.
The church joke is funny because it relies on the unexpected twist of church shopping, usually involving questions related to whether there’s a good Sunday school program and whether the pastor is a good speaker, adding a question of whether the pastor will have any videos of him that could cause Obama more trouble all over again.
“Obama… his self-deprecating humor is a recent development.”
What’s your authority on that, JayTea? You’ve known Barack a long time?
First Clinton joke I remember laughing at was on SNL shortly after he took office, when they showed Clinton jogging with the Secret Service. They duck into a McDonald’s and one of the SS guys goes ‘Does Mrs. Clinton know about this?” and Clinton goes “Son, we’re going to do a lot of things in the next few years that Mrs. Clinton doesn’t know about.”
That whole skit was funny. Clinton kept grabbing customers’ Big Macs, gulping them down and explaining “warlords!” with his mouth full.
There were scores if not hundreds of SNL jokes at Bill’s expense during the 1990s, especially on “Weekend Update.”
Obama… his self-deprecating humor is a recent development. It’s a welcome one, though. Previously, his humor was often based on putting others down.
I can’t wait for your examples, Mr. Tea.
(And no, “Hillary, you’re likeable enough,” isn’t an example. He wasn’t attempting a joke when he said that–go watch the tape if you don’t believe me. He was exasperated by her playing the victim when a questioner asked her about “likeability” or else he missed her joke entirely.)
Almost every time I post a link in a comment, it gets held up in moderation — and often never escapes. So I won’t post the link.
Instead, I’ll post the link in the header, where if you click on my name on this comment it’ll take you to an article I wrote citing examples of Obama’s using humor to pick on others, those weaker than him — a baby-faced cub reporter and Nancy Reagan, in the two examples I cited.
I much preferred the self-deprecating humor Obama showed at the Al Smith dinner, but you could tell it was new to him — John McCain was far, far funnier there.
J.
For those who lack the endurance to wend Mr. Tea’s tortuous trail, here’s Mr. Obama “picking on others, those weaker than him”:
Now I’ll grant that Mr. Obama made an error. But when it comes to “picking on others, those weaker than him,” this doesn’t hold a candle to the all-time champ:
For comparative purposes, I offer this:
It’s the eye of the beholder who would see the grin as “unremorseful”. And it’s either the similarly biased or simply ignorant who would fail to note that Obama later called the reporter in question and personally apologized for “spoiling his game” showing both his humor and humility.
Ouch. Looks like I pulled a “JT” and commented before following the provided link and seeing the whole story. I could pull a further “JT” and say it’s JT’s fault, but I’ll admit it was my screw up.
Jay Tea’s article does mention and link to Obama’s call to the reporter. Of course, viewed thru Jay’s prism the apology is purely a calculated move and not at all an actual attempt at an apology. Nah, that would mess up his entire world view.
Dana Carvey as George H. W. Bush. (”Not gonn’ do it!”)
Later shortened to just “Na Ga Da.”
J.G. Thayer: “Almost every time I post a link in a comment, it gets held up in moderation — and often never escapes. So I won’t post the link.”
Just cut everything at the begging up to the first three Ws. That way we can cut and paste it for ourselves.
J.G. Thayer: “Instead, I’ll post the link in the header, where if you click on my name on this comment it’ll take you to an article I wrote citing examples of Obama’s using humor to pick on others, those weaker than him — a baby-faced cub reporter and Nancy Reagan, in the two examples I cited.”
The reporter quote wasn’t a joke, and he called the reporter later to personally apologize.
So you are a fucking ‘tard here, as usually.
“…in terms of speaking to former presidents, I have spoken to all of them, that are still living, obviously, president Clinton… hey, I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances…”
Did you know Nancy Regan held seances in the White House to contact dead people? That’s what the reference was to. Not to her dead husband.
Granted, I understand why people would be confused and make that mistake, but it still doesn’t support your original claim.
So again we ask, do you have any examples?
Strowbridge, I’m astonished. Thank you. You’ve done a bit to alleviate my paranoia.
Not cure it entirely, but alleviate it.
But to the point: yes, Obama apologized to both Nancy Reagan and the youthful reporter. But he made sure everyone knew about the apologies, even recording and releasing the chat with the reporter.
What would be the point of recording and releasing the tape of the call? Why, to show what a great guy Obama was.
Good deeds done with an eye to how they’ll reflect on the doer don’t score many points.
J.
Obama can’t win with you, can he?
You criticizing him for inadvertently insulting or being rude to someone. Then you criticize him for let it be know that he’s apologized to the person he’s supposedly offended.
“Obama can’t win with you, can he?”
I’ll bet your typed that without the slightest hint of self-parody right?
As to the topic at hand, my money’s on Jon Stewart to lead the way.
Man, Sean called that one.
SFC B: I’ll bet your typed that without the slightest hint of self-parody right?
Absolutely. I’ve criticized Obama in the past when I’ve not agreed with him. My opinion of Obama is not the direct opposite of Jay Tea et al’s “he can do no good”.
J. G. Thayer: “But to the point: yes, Obama apologized to both Nancy Reagan and the youthful reporter. But he made sure everyone knew about the apologies, even recording and releasing the chat with the reporter.”
Two points…
1.) I think you are lying here. The tape I heard was recorded by the reporter. Not Obama.
2.) The point of making a public apology is to publicly admit you are wrong, you fucking idiot.
Jesus Christ! I know I call you a fucking ‘tard a lot, but fucking hell, when you spew shit like this, there’s no other word for it.
YOU ARE A FUCKING ‘TARD.
Kindly shut the fuck up for the next eight years.
Sean: “Obama can’t win with you, can he?”
SFC B: “I’ll bet your typed that without the slightest hint of self-parody right?”
Just because the horse you backed was (nearly) a 100% fail, doesn’t mean we won’t give credit where credit is due.
[...] Chris Rock says it’s hard to make fun of Barack Obama. Bill in Portland Maine shows how it’s done. [...]