Obama cracks em up....
Byrnzie
Posts: 21,037
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/ma ... nner-jokes
Heard the one about the president who cracks jokes about race and 9/11?
• President's gags tickle Washington journalists
• Topics include the press, family and his predecessor
* Ewen MacAskill in Washington
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 10 May 2009 21.37 BST
'Judging by his 16-minute set, the tall, soberly dressed comedian who took to the stage of the Hilton Capital hotel on Saturday night is not likely to challenge Richard Pryor or Lenny Bruce as the king of American stand-up.
But perhaps you don't expect moments of manic energy or bursts of obscene provocation when the man doing the gags also moonlights as the US president.
Still, what Barack Obama's comedy debut, which came at the annual White House correspondents' dinner, lacked in filth and fury, it made up for with a series of occasionally biting one-liners that poked fun at his family, his colleagues, his rivals and, most of all, himself.
Referring to the high expectations built up in the US and around the world, he said: "I strongly believe my next 100 days will be so successful I will finish them in 72 days. And on the 73rd day I will rest."
Ewen MacAskill reports on the president's comedy prowess Link to this audio
After getting away with the religious comparison, he went on to risk jokes about two of the most sensitive issues in US politics: 9/11 and race.
Touching on the publicity disaster that erupted last month after a White House official caused panic in New York by approving a publicity shoot that allowed Air Force One to fly very low over Manhattan, he said: "Sasha and Malia aren't here tonight because they're grounded. You can't just take Air Force One on a joy ride to Manhattan. I don't care whose kids you are."
He got away with it because it was funny and his children are popular. But the plane incident is still raw with New Yorkers and the row only last Friday claimed a senior member of the White House, who either resigned or was sacked. A clumsier delivery could have produced a backlash.
Riskier still, coming from the country's first African-American president, was a jibe at John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, whose permanent tan, possibly fake, is a source of banter round Congress. "We have a lot in common. He is a person of colour," Obama said. "Although not a colour that appears in the natural world."
Despite a clunky start with a laboured joke about his over-reliance on teleprompters, he soon won over the 2,700-strong gathering of journalists, politicians and Hollywood celebrities. His drawing-power had pulled in a list of actors and film makers almost on par with the Oscars. Among the guests were Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Glenn Close, Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria Parker and Robert de Niro. Celebrities from the music world included Sting and Alicia Keys. Rupert Murdoch's conservative Fox News brought Todd Palin, husband of the failed Republican vice-presidential candidate.
Obama's routine gathered pace with jokes about the rightwing press, the Bush administration and his erstwhile presidential adversary Hillary Clinton. He told the assembled journalists: "Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me." Acknowledging dissent from one table, he hastily added: "Apologies to Fox."
Obama also apologised for the absence of Dick Cheney, explaining that the former vice-president was hard at work on his memoirs which, he said, were provisionally entitled "How to shoot friends and interrogate people" – a reference to Cheney's hunting mishaps and the evidence-gathering techniques of George Bush's security services.
His swine-flu inspired shot at secretary of state Clinton, was, by comparison, relatively tame. "These days we could not be closer. In fact, the second she got back from Mexico, she pulled me into a hug and said I should go down there myself."
Obama's performance stood out in part because of the awkwardness of so many of his predecessors, not least Bush. The White House correspondents' dinners during his tenure tended to be staid affairs, with the best turns given not by Bush but the first lady, Laura, and in 2006 by the comedian Stephen Colbert, who ridiculed the media and the president.
Obama showed on the campaign trail he has a spontaneous and sharp sense of humour. But he has kept it largely in check during his presidency, reflecting the seriousness of the economic recession and the many overseas problems facing him.
The president joked that he did not really want to be there, saying it was another problem he had inherited from Bush. He dislikes the clubiness of Washington and broke with tradition earlier this year by failing to attend a similar function, the Gridiron dinner.
The jokes were written mainly by Obama's White House adviser, David Axelrod, and his speechwriter, Jon Favreau, and the insider nature of the material reflected that.
Obama also had fun at the expense of the first lady, Michelle, his vice-president, Joe Biden, and his expletive-spouting White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. On the eve of Mother's Day in the US, Obama said: "It's a tough holiday for [Emanuel] … He's not used to saying the word 'day' after mother …"
Hard to imagine Bush delivering that line.
Heard the one about the president who cracks jokes about race and 9/11?
• President's gags tickle Washington journalists
• Topics include the press, family and his predecessor
* Ewen MacAskill in Washington
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 10 May 2009 21.37 BST
'Judging by his 16-minute set, the tall, soberly dressed comedian who took to the stage of the Hilton Capital hotel on Saturday night is not likely to challenge Richard Pryor or Lenny Bruce as the king of American stand-up.
But perhaps you don't expect moments of manic energy or bursts of obscene provocation when the man doing the gags also moonlights as the US president.
Still, what Barack Obama's comedy debut, which came at the annual White House correspondents' dinner, lacked in filth and fury, it made up for with a series of occasionally biting one-liners that poked fun at his family, his colleagues, his rivals and, most of all, himself.
Referring to the high expectations built up in the US and around the world, he said: "I strongly believe my next 100 days will be so successful I will finish them in 72 days. And on the 73rd day I will rest."
Ewen MacAskill reports on the president's comedy prowess Link to this audio
After getting away with the religious comparison, he went on to risk jokes about two of the most sensitive issues in US politics: 9/11 and race.
Touching on the publicity disaster that erupted last month after a White House official caused panic in New York by approving a publicity shoot that allowed Air Force One to fly very low over Manhattan, he said: "Sasha and Malia aren't here tonight because they're grounded. You can't just take Air Force One on a joy ride to Manhattan. I don't care whose kids you are."
He got away with it because it was funny and his children are popular. But the plane incident is still raw with New Yorkers and the row only last Friday claimed a senior member of the White House, who either resigned or was sacked. A clumsier delivery could have produced a backlash.
Riskier still, coming from the country's first African-American president, was a jibe at John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, whose permanent tan, possibly fake, is a source of banter round Congress. "We have a lot in common. He is a person of colour," Obama said. "Although not a colour that appears in the natural world."
Despite a clunky start with a laboured joke about his over-reliance on teleprompters, he soon won over the 2,700-strong gathering of journalists, politicians and Hollywood celebrities. His drawing-power had pulled in a list of actors and film makers almost on par with the Oscars. Among the guests were Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Glenn Close, Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria Parker and Robert de Niro. Celebrities from the music world included Sting and Alicia Keys. Rupert Murdoch's conservative Fox News brought Todd Palin, husband of the failed Republican vice-presidential candidate.
Obama's routine gathered pace with jokes about the rightwing press, the Bush administration and his erstwhile presidential adversary Hillary Clinton. He told the assembled journalists: "Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me." Acknowledging dissent from one table, he hastily added: "Apologies to Fox."
Obama also apologised for the absence of Dick Cheney, explaining that the former vice-president was hard at work on his memoirs which, he said, were provisionally entitled "How to shoot friends and interrogate people" – a reference to Cheney's hunting mishaps and the evidence-gathering techniques of George Bush's security services.
His swine-flu inspired shot at secretary of state Clinton, was, by comparison, relatively tame. "These days we could not be closer. In fact, the second she got back from Mexico, she pulled me into a hug and said I should go down there myself."
Obama's performance stood out in part because of the awkwardness of so many of his predecessors, not least Bush. The White House correspondents' dinners during his tenure tended to be staid affairs, with the best turns given not by Bush but the first lady, Laura, and in 2006 by the comedian Stephen Colbert, who ridiculed the media and the president.
Obama showed on the campaign trail he has a spontaneous and sharp sense of humour. But he has kept it largely in check during his presidency, reflecting the seriousness of the economic recession and the many overseas problems facing him.
The president joked that he did not really want to be there, saying it was another problem he had inherited from Bush. He dislikes the clubiness of Washington and broke with tradition earlier this year by failing to attend a similar function, the Gridiron dinner.
The jokes were written mainly by Obama's White House adviser, David Axelrod, and his speechwriter, Jon Favreau, and the insider nature of the material reflected that.
Obama also had fun at the expense of the first lady, Michelle, his vice-president, Joe Biden, and his expletive-spouting White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. On the eve of Mother's Day in the US, Obama said: "It's a tough holiday for [Emanuel] … He's not used to saying the word 'day' after mother …"
Hard to imagine Bush delivering that line.
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