I think that was a typo, on the NBC website.
They had accidentally labeled the show as “POLITICS”. I’m pretty sure they meant, “COMEDY”. But those kinds of mistakes happen.
President Joe Biden stepped up to the microphone earlier this week, to try out his new 70-minute ‘State of the Union’ routine on a group of friends. You could tell they were friends, because they kept standing up and clapping.
You know, I start tonight by congratulating the 118th Congress and the new Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. (Polite applause.) Speaker, I don’t want to ruin your reputation, but I look forward to working with you.
Ha ha ha.
And I want to congratulate the new Leader of the House Democrats, the first African American Minority Leader in history, Hakeem Jeffries. He won despite the fact I campaigned for him.
More laughter.
I don’t think Joe is quite ready for Comedy Central, however. I mean, if you’re the President and you make a joke, the audience sure as hell better laugh, if they know what’s good for them.
Two years ago, the economy was reeling. I stand here tonight, after we’ve created, with the help of many people in this room, 12 million new jobs — more jobs created in two years than any President has created in four years — because of you all, because of the American people…
Ha ha ha.
Or… was he serious? That he created 12 million jobs? With the help of certain “people in this room”? Like, did he mean, the House of Representatives?
Anyway, it didn’t get a laugh.
Most of the hour-long routine actually wasn’t very funny. Maybe his timing was off? We all have our bad nights.
This one, though, gave me a good laugh.
And I’m committed — I’m committed to work with China where we can advance American interests and benefit the world. But make no mistake about it… As we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country. And we did…
That one got some real applause.
Yep, we sure protected America’s sovereignty. The military shot down a weather balloon.
I’m just sharing a few highlights from the show, because as I said, there were whole segments that totally flopped, as comedy. But I liked this one:
And when we do these projects — and, again, I get criticized about this, but I make no excuses for it — we’re going to buy American. We’re going to buy American. ‘Buy American’ has been the law since 1933. But for too long, past administrations — Democrat and Republican — have fought to get around it.
Not anymore. Tonight, I’m also announcing new standards to require all construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects to be made in America. Made in America…
What a howler! His audience knew very well how many Mexican and Chinese workers we would have to import, to make that even possible… and the congressmen were practically rolling on the floor. (The congresswomen were wearing dresses, so they just stood and clapped.)
At the end of the routine, the President got a little mushy and sentimental, talking about ‘democracy’. Which has been, itself, getting to be something of a joke in some parts of the country.
Folks, there’s one reason why we’ve been able to do all of these things: our democracy itself. It’s the most fundamental thing of all. With democracy, everything is possible. Without it, nothing is.
Except he was forgetting, I think, about humor. Democracy isn’t worth a goddamn, if we can’t laugh.