It’s apparently safe now to tell jokes about President Obama.
This development is somewhat notable considering jokes during the president’s first term in the White House appeared to be off-limits, according to a handful of comedians.
“Well, I think that’s scary and dangerous,” former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Dana Carvey said in 2012, referring to the taboo nature of Obama jokes. “I think free speech is probably the coolest thing we have in this country, and again, you can label it hate speech and dismiss it, and then you’re allowed to censor it.”
This does not appear to be the case anymore.
The president has been the punchline this week in many jokes by late night comedians, with Obama and his administration apparently now synonymous with comical failure.
“President Obama reportedly invited Billy Joel to share a cigarette with him during a recent White House visit. He said, ‘Hey man, I really like your early stuff.’ And Obama said, ‘Thanks,’ ” late night comedian Seth Myers said Tuesday.
Comedian Jimmy Fallon took his own digs at the president on Monday.
“During a recent interview with George Stephanopoulos, President Obama said that after his presidency, voters will want a, quote, ‘new car smell in 2016,’ ” Fallon said. “Yeah. And Americans are like, ‘Actually, we just want to finally put the key in the ignition. We just would like to go. We just would like to do something. We just want to see it move, anything. Put it in neutral, we’ll jump-start it.’ ”
He added: “Over the weekend, President Obama played golf with Derek Jeter in Las Vegas. Yeah. Jeter enjoyed hearing Obama describe what it’s like to be president. While Obama enjoyed listening to Jeter describe what it’s like to be retired. He’s like, ‘Really? you just wear sweatpants all day? Sounds so great.’ ”
Further, “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend took aim at the president’s recent executive action on immigration, airing a comedy sketch that shows the president throwing a bill down the stairs of Capitol Hill and working with his friend, “Executive Order,” to get around Congress.
The Washington Post’s Wonkblog later examined the weekend comedy routine for accuracy.
Perhaps it shouldn’t come as too much a surprise that a growing number of comedians are now taking digs at the president. Indeed, comedian Chris Rock in 2009 predicted that this would happen.
“At some point, he’s going to [be easier to joke about] — there’s always slip-ups,” Rock said, referring to the idea that Obama would eventually become fodder for comedians. “No one can survive that level of scrutiny without occasionally making it easy for a comedian.”
