Video: Hillary flops as a comedian
posted at 10:11 am on May 6, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Send to a Friend |
printer-friendly
Hillary Clinton tried to join the list of pols who try to generate warmth by attempting comedy, this time on the Late Show with David Letterman. Unfortunately, unless Hillary aimed at a Steven Wright-like minimalism, this performance won’t enhance her image much. Flat, dour, and appearing bored with the exercise, not even Letterman could save Hillary from herself:
It doesn’t help that Letterman’s staff came up with a mediocre concept for the Top Ten list. Reasons Hillary Clinton loves America? Is that a backhanded slap at Barack Obama? And Earl Scheib quit offering paint jobs at $29.95 sometime during the Reagan presidency. It’s now ten times that amount. Talk about being out of touch with the common man! Letterman managed to step all over Hillary’s delivery of the one funny entry, a reference to her ubiquitous pantsuits.
Sometimes these appearances work, and sometimes they don’t. It didn’t do any damage, but maybe Letterman should stick with Bob Dole.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Steven Wright was much better than Hillary!
My favorite Steven Wright joke:
The headlights in my car burned out. I replaced them with strobe lights. Now when I drive at night, it looks like I’m the only one moving.
Red Pill on May 6, 2008 at 10:15 AM
This is K-Billy’s Super Sounds of the Seventies….
natesnake on May 6, 2008 at 10:18 AM
Paul Schaffer with the band, Hillary Clinton looking bland.
radjah shelduck on May 6, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Bob Dole doesn’t need this.
Beo on May 6, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Just another reason not to watch Letterman.
davidk on May 6, 2008 at 10:19 AM
That was painful to watch.
Maxx on May 6, 2008 at 10:19 AM
C’mon, how can you blame Hillary for that?
Unless she wrote those “jokes.”
Soup? Oh, yeah, I can see that would have had ‘em rolling with better delivery.
Typhoon on May 6, 2008 at 10:20 AM
I thought it was chuckle-worthy.
Oh, and inbeforeRedLassosucks!
I like Red Lasso…youtoob is blocked at work.
Asher on May 6, 2008 at 10:21 AM
That was pathetic.
amerpundit on May 6, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Socialist are always humorless.
Maxx on May 6, 2008 at 10:22 AM
My favorite Steven Wright joke: I had some instant water once, but I didn’t know what to add.
James on May 6, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Her older one was funnier.
amerpundit on May 6, 2008 at 10:23 AM
Lame.
CP on May 6, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Hillary always looks like she got her cloths at a Goodwill fire sale.
Maxx on May 6, 2008 at 10:28 AM
In Dave’s world, Hillary is not cool. Barack is cool. So naturally the writers will give all the best lines to Obama. In his monologue, Dave makes fun of McCain alot and he was vicious to Mitt Romney. With Hillary, Dave makes fun of Bill Clinton’s girth and Hillary’s pants suits. He does not ever makes fun of the Clinton’s “intelligence” or politics. With the Obamas, Dave never makes fun of anything about them. For Dave and his staff, Barack and Michelle Obama are the essence of cool
Larraby on May 6, 2008 at 10:34 AM
My Steven Wright entry: “I read the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything.”
EJDolbow on May 6, 2008 at 10:34 AM
I rarely find these top ten jokes funny. A friend of mine used to email them out almost every day, and I never got what she found so funny about them.
Esthier on May 6, 2008 at 10:37 AM
I saw Steven Wright live once. (Gosh, it could have been twenty years ago…time flies).
At one point in the act he stopped what he was doing, picked up the microphone stand, but the base up and over his shoulder, then used the long straight part to start “writing” in the air. He spoke as he wrote:
Red Pill on May 6, 2008 at 10:37 AM
Where is a writers strike when you need one?
christophercube on May 6, 2008 at 10:38 AM
I’d like to go on the record as saying IT IS TIME THAT POLITICAL CANDIDATES FIGURED OUT THAT THEY ARE NOT ENTERTAINERS. Caeser’s Palace isn’t calling Hillary this morning and asking her if she wants a multi-week gig if the Presidency thing doesn’t work out! Politicians need to stick to their strengths and late night comedy isn’t one of them.
highhopes on May 6, 2008 at 10:41 AM
“I took a speed-reading course and finished ‘War and Peace’ in twenty minutes. It involves Russia.”
Damian P. on May 6, 2008 at 10:43 AM
And maybe the entertainers will learn they are not politicians.
EJDolbow on May 6, 2008 at 10:45 AM
Is it my imagination or is Dave Letterman looking more bored and annoyed than usual these days.
I had a friend from college who was a page on his show for a summer. She said that while he was all smiles and chuckles while the camera was on, he was rude and intimidating to all but his senior staff. Further, during commercial breaks, unless he was a personal friend with his guest, he would often ignore them until the camera was on again. Sorry for O/T.
Syd B. on May 6, 2008 at 10:47 AM
I guess late-night talk show hosts have the tenure of Supreme Court justices, if not the humor.
mymanpotsandpans on May 6, 2008 at 10:50 AM
After watching that, are you sure they still aren’t on the picket line?
cat-scratch on May 6, 2008 at 10:51 AM
“I put instant coffee in the microwave and almost went back in time.”
Mike Antonucci on May 6, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Wow, not a single decent one.
frankj on May 6, 2008 at 10:57 AM
“If I melted dry ice into a swimming pool, could I swim without getting wet?”
rjkitch13 on May 6, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Top Ten Reasons I stopped watching Dave Letterman:
10. Not funny
1-9. See 10
alacrityfitzhugh on May 6, 2008 at 11:13 AM
There was a switch on the wall behind my couch. I’d flip it but it didn’t seem to do anything. Then I got a phone call from Germany. The guy said, “Stop that.” -steve wright
The guy that wore wingtips on the beach, Nixon did better with his ‘Sock it to Me’ gag on “Laugh In”. In ‘68 it was already $39.95 to get your windshield painted.
i b squidly on May 6, 2008 at 11:16 AM
C’mon Ed, it’s Letterman. You seem to be taking this way too seriously. I can’t believe you expected anything other than what is in the vid clip.
RMCS_USN on May 6, 2008 at 11:28 AM
The video isn’t working for me. Not a complaint, just an observation. Those of you reminiscing about Steven Wright owe it to yourselves to pick up his new CD, “I Still Have A Pony”.
He hasn’t lost anything on his metaphorical curve ball.
Doug on May 6, 2008 at 11:31 AM
“If it’s tourist season, why can’t we shoot them?”
kirkill on May 6, 2008 at 11:32 AM
Another Steven Wright classic:
What’s another word for… thesaurus?
John the Libertarian on May 6, 2008 at 11:34 AM
“I bought some spot remover . . . my dog disappeared.”
I love Steven Wright.
ncc770 on May 6, 2008 at 11:39 AM
Hillary Flops…
… as a commic.
… as a politician.
… as a lawyer.
… {etc}
Lawrence on May 6, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Every so often I need to be reminded why I don’t watch Letterman, or the show with the wenches (Kathie Lee is one) who asked Rosie that question about Rev-rend Wright.
Christine on May 6, 2008 at 11:54 AM
Lawrence you forgot: wife, Mother, woman and human being.
Christine on May 6, 2008 at 11:55 AM
and I’m castigated within my family because I’m the only one who never thought Letterman funny? Sheesh!
MNDavenotPC on May 6, 2008 at 12:10 PM
Would have been a lot funnier and more appropriate if it had been “Top Ten things Hillary Clinton loves about Indiana.” That’s where she was, and it’s where Letterman is from. Could have been a great Ball State joke in there somewhere!
rockmom on May 6, 2008 at 12:40 PM
Hillary would probably feel a lot more comfortable going on Letterman and doing an impersonation of Morbo, the alien TV news anchor from Futurama. At least she could finally say what she really thinks that way…
jon1979 on May 6, 2008 at 12:51 PM
Never let that woman say ‘car’ again.
- The Cat
MirCat on May 6, 2008 at 12:59 PM
Holy crap, this had to have been the WORST Top Ten ever…. with the exception of #1, which makes my point!
ToddonCapeCod on May 6, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Haha, that explains why I didn’t get that one. I heard it and was like “Where!? Who will do this!?”
As for the… awkwardness(?) of the whole thing, it appears to me that Hillary’s segment was taped and she wasn’t actually “via satellite”. Anyone else get that feeling? Something just doesn’t really line up.
RightWinged on May 6, 2008 at 1:34 PM
Comedy copper! Well, it wasn’t that bad (and I liked the part about soup; yum!) but what I hate is the fact that politicians feel they have to do things at all. I hate seeing them debasing themselves before the electorate, and how rolling around in the mud to show they’ve got the common touch are de rigueur. I hate the backslapping, the waffle-eating, the baby-kissing, the hunting stories, the beer-drinking, the barbeque-attending and the references to American Idol or whatever other stupid pop culture whatsit du jour.
But then again, I freely admit I’m a snob. I didn’t like it when Coriolanus was forced to go out and pander for votes and I don’t like it with our own politicians.
Tzetzes on May 6, 2008 at 1:37 PM
Frankly I have seen train wrecks with mass casualties that were funnier than her “performance”.
pilamaye on May 6, 2008 at 1:59 PM
“My girlfriend called me a wimp. I got so mad I almost said something.”
SW
whitetop on May 6, 2008 at 2:19 PM
“My house is made out of balsa wood. When no one is home across the street, except the little kids, I go out and lift my house up over my head. I tell them to stay out of my yard or I’ll throw it at them.”
-Steven Wright
Buford Gooch on May 6, 2008 at 2:51 PM
AMEN to that EJ!!
bernzright777 on May 6, 2008 at 3:29 PM
“I once had a dream that everything in my apartment had been stolen and replaced with an exact duplicate. I told my roommate about it and he said ‘Do I know you?’.”
–Steven Wright
DrSteve on May 6, 2008 at 3:31 PM
Wow, those were bad jokes. You think Dave’s staff deliberately sandbagged her with those duds?
Spolitics on May 6, 2008 at 3:50 PM
Yes. And don’t forget the ‘Schbags of West Lafayette.
mikeyboss on May 6, 2008 at 5:15 PM
“Winny and I lived in a house that ran on static electricity…If you wanted to run the blender, you had to rub balloons on your head. If you wanted to cook,
you had to pull off a sweater real quick.” — Wright
Del Dolemonte on May 6, 2008 at 6:14 PM
That’s my favorite Steven Wright one-liner. One of my favorite Steven Wright story jokes is: “I went skiing the other day. I was on a chairlift with a complete stranger. About halfway up he says, ‘This is fun. I haven’t been skiing in years.’ I said, ‘Why do you wait so long?’ He said, ‘I was in prison. I once pushed a total stranger off of a Ferris Wheel.’ I said ‘I remember you.’”
Captain Scarlet on May 6, 2008 at 6:22 PM