Humor and the Obama White House

I've been a political junkie for many years, but a comedy fanatic for a lot longer, so when the two intersect, well, it's Miller Time.

So the biggest question on my mind is, what will be the focus of comedy during the Obama years? Despite Fred Armisen's attempts, Barack Obama is unlikely to provide a lot of good comedic material. Jay Leno (soon to be Conan O'Brien) and David Lettermen will try their best, but it will be tough with a President who basically is pretty boring (and we should all be thankful for that).

However, last Saturday, I think I saw what Saturday Night Live will plan to focus on for the next 4 years. If the top of the ticket isn't a good candidate for a caricature, go to the Veep. Although Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle and even Spiro Agnew had plenty of jokes pointed their way, Vice Presidents really haven't been the focus of comedy skits. Until now.


If Hillary Clinton does get named as Secretary of State, (and Amy Poehler is available), that provides another big cache of material.


Odds are that at some point, Tina Fey reprises her role as Sarah Palin, because there is no doubt that Sarah will wind up surfacing from time to time. Just today, on a local radio station, I heard Sarah Palin referred to as the 'Paris Hilton of Politics' because she keeps popping back into our consciousness. Who knows, Tina and Amy might be doing the Presidential Debate skits in 2016.

If Hillary is in the Cabinet, well, Darrell Hammond may wind up staying on the SNL staff until he can collect Social Security because Bill Clinton won't be far from the national spotlight and will give comedy writers some good material.