The New York Times delves into the often treaded waters of Politician As Entertainer with their latest article, and they have a special focus on the Philadelphia shows from last week.
Politicians as Comics: A Sideshow on Pop TV
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Published: April 22, 2008…
Michelle Obama, who last week stood up for her husband’s common touch on “The Colbert Report,” tried to prove it by taping a segment of “Rachael Ray” alongside Barack Obama on Monday. The episode is expected to run in May.
Hillary Rodham Clinton performed a self-mocking skit on “The Colbert Report” last week (not to be confused with her self-mocking skit on “Saturday Night Live,” on March 1) and agreed to appear on “Larry King Live” on CNN on Monday night. Mr. Obama accepted a seat, for the third time, on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.”
The novelty of politicians showing their lighter side on national television has begun to weigh heavily on the campaign season. The surprise lies not in who does which show, but who doesn’t do them at all, and at this point only the pope has held out.
McCain was in “Wedding Crashers”? I own that movie and I didn’t know that…. I’ll have to go back and watch it.
They said that Clinton had the “less embarrassing task” of fixing the screen, in reference to Edwards’ EdWORDs segment, but he didn’t seem too embarrassed by it. I guess Alessandra Stanley isn’t much of an It-Getter.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
McCain is also the only one of the candidates to have hosted Saturday Night Live. Not to get elected, but just because he wasn’t doing anything at the time.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Politicians should only be unintentionally funny, why they try too hard it doesn’t work.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
I kinda agree with vigwig.
The way I see it, it’s like in every day life, some people are naturally funny, but some people aren’t and when they try too hard to be funny, it just ends up in disaster.
Like Edwards was legitimately funny in his delivery of the EdWORDs segment. Not many politicians can say the same about their appearances on various shows. You either got it, or you don’t.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0