Barack Obama is Between Two Ferns


I am not sure how many people are familiar with this online show on the comedy website Funny or Die, where Zach Galifianakis plays a boorish and ignorant host who interviews celebrities and both host and guest are mutually passive-aggressive and backhanded in their insults, and the cringe-worthy exchanges are interspersed with awkward moments of silence.

In this episode his guest is president Obama who comes on to plug the Affordable Care Act. It is a pretty funny segment and clearly aimed towards the audience of young people that the ACA is targeting. (Seth Fiegerman explains how this ‘interview’ came about.)

The strategy seems to have worked since apparently the clip is setting viewing record for Funny or Die videos. Already over five million people have watched it since it debuted today and the White House says it is driving a lot traffic to the website. You can be sure that those who hate Obamacare and have been discouraging young people from signing up are going to be furious and will hit back.

Time media critic James Poniewozik worries that older people may not get the edgy humor and think that Obama is genuinely annoyed and reporters have questioned whether the interview hurts the ‘dignity of the office’. I doubt it. I am a really old guy and while some may not like this kind of humor, we are not as unaware of current trends as people may think.

See it and judge for yourself.

Comments

  1. Menyambal --- making sambal a food group. says

    First of those I have seen. Thanks for posting.

    I thought it was funny, and I am not young. Obama rocks.

  2. rdmcpeek43 says

    After Bush, the office had no dignity. Obama had to start at the bottom. And IMO he’s done a great job considering the losers (Republicans) he’s had to deal with. And the ACA looks better every day.

  3. lochaber says

    I’m pretty ‘meh’ about most of the Galfianakis stuff I’ve run across, but I actually thought this was pretty amusing.

    And that some of the rightwingers are getting upset about this just makes it even more amusing.

    🙂

  4. Timothy says

    I agree with lochaber.

    I’m thrilled to see a national leader having a sense of humor. This adds more to the dignity of the office, IMHO.

  5. N. Nescio says

    For the people griping about the POTUS showing up on a comedy show I have only four words:

    Sock it to ME?

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