US President Barack Obama, comedian-in-chief, is going out in a blaze of humour

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama intends to stay on in Washington DC for at least a couple of years after he demits office on January 20, 2017, mainly to allow his younger daughter Sasha to finish school. He'll be one of very few presidents who will reside in the capital post-retirement; most return to their hometown to work on memoirs (Obama is already done with that) or set up their own presidential library, think tank or foundation, all of which will apparently be on hold in Obama's case.
Speculation about his future plans range from a Supreme Court nomination (unlikely, although there is one precedent of President William Howard Taft going on to become an SC Justice) to teaching law (which he did before entering politics), to becoming a partner or adviser to a venture fund (like Al Gore and Condoleezza Rice).Obama himself has said he'd love to return to his old job of community organisation and service (although upgraded, a la Jimmy Carter).
But there's one line of work where Obama would be a shoo-in given his performance in recent times — as a stand-up comedian who can jostle with the best at the Washington Improv Theatre (WIT), the hangout for humorists, wiseacres and comics. In fact, going by the number of such gigs Obama has appeared in the past several months, he appears to be fine-tuning his skills, wowing even professionals who do this for a living.
“No US president has been a better comedian than Obama,“ the Atlantic magazine pronounced recently, counting John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton among those who excelled in telling a joke. But Obama, it said, has transformed the way presidents use comedy — not just engaging in self-deprecation or playfully teasing his rivals, but turning his barbed wit on opponents, while observing, “He's truly the killer comedian in chief.“
That talent was in evidence again on Monday when Obama sportingly read out some of the meanest tweets on Jimmy Kimmel's show, even as he skillfully got in a jab or two of his own. Responding to @realDonaldTrump's tweet that “President Obama will go down as perhaps the worst president in the history of the US!,“ Obama shot back, “Hey , @realDonaldTrump, at least I will go down as a president.“
To @DJ_lcpl, who asked, “Barack Obama...bro, do you even lift?,“ Obama riposted, “Well, I lifted the ban on Cuban cigars, that's worth something.“
Kimmel asked Obama, “Do you ever laugh“ when watching Trump on TV. “Most of the time,“ Obama said.
Some of Obama's wittiest lines have come at the annual Gridiron or White House Correspondents' Association dinners, annual rituals that offer presidents a platform to display comedic touch. Among his memorable jabs was one at a TV network that was steadily losing viewership: “MSNBC is here. They're a little overwhelmed. They've never seen an audience this big before.“ And to its rival Fox, “Let's face it, Fox, you'll miss me when I'm gone.It will be harder to convince the American people that Hillary was born in Kenya.“
While Trump has been his favourite target in recent times, he's not been shy of poking fun at Hillary Clinton either. “Hillary trying to ap peal to young voters is a little bit like your relative who just signed up for Facebook. 'Dear America, did you get my poke? Is it appearing on your wall? I'm not sure I'm using this right. Love, Aunt Hillary .' It's not entirely persuasive,“ he ribbed her at one event.
Obama has easily clocked the most appearances on comedy shows than any other president, including gigs on edgy , off-the-wall shows such as Between Two Ferns, WTF with Marc Maron and Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Some of his appearances were aimed at promoting his signature initiatives like Obamacare. It's a high-risk strategy that has worked because of his comic touch and impeccable timing.
While most of the funny lines are typically written by forhire comedy writers, Obama has shown that he can himself be spontaneous beyond the script. During the 2015 State of the Union address, when his comment, “I have no more campaigns to run,“ was met with applause from snarky lawmakers, Obama went off-script to mock them, saying, “I know, because I won both of them.“
It's left many Obama fans long for a non-existent third term. The comedian-in-chief even has even got in a line about that. “The prospect of leaving the White House is a mixed bag. You might have heard that someone jumped the White House fence last week, but I have to give the Secret Service credit. They found Michelle and brought her back. She's safe back at home now. It's only nine more months, baby. Settle down,“ he had joked recently .