I've never been a fan of Jay Leno, simply because I prefer comedians who are funny. I can count on one hand the times I watched The Tonight Show after Johnny Carson left, and those times were when Leno had a compelling guest on the show - like Jerry Seinfeld for example, a funny comedian.
I heard two of Leno's "jokes" tonight when he appeared after the show I had been watching from my DVR ended and the "Live TV" mode kicked in. No surprise, the jokes weren't funny.
But the audience's reactions to his lame jabs at President Obama were priceless!
A good portion of his audience booed and jeered Leno when he said that the President's weekend getaway with the First Lady was the first deal he had closed in a while. Same reaction when he said the President wanted to go to Chicago and Michelle wanted to go to Rio.
They booed! Tough luck, Leno. Turns out we love President Obama, and we know who it is that's not getting things done. Here's a hint: it rhymes with Me-publicans.
Apparently NBC has decided that since there is nothing to really criticize about the President, at least nothing funny, they'll just go with the Republican talking points and try to attract the Hannity/Beck/Limbaugh audience. Good luck with that, Jay. The other 89% of us will be happy to get our comedy somewhere else.
Don't get me wrong. I laughed at every Bill Clinton joke ever told by David Letterman, so I'm not against telling jokes about Presidents. I love Bill Clinton, but he deserved every taunt. The Clinton jokes are funny because they're grounded in reality. I probably laughed harder at the Clinton jokes than the Bush jokes, because clips of Bush just made me cringe.
The fact is President Obama has a good sense of humor, but he's not a funny guy. He's probably never going to make an ass of himself like so many others who have held that office, or like Leno did tonight.
If this were 1939 instead of 2009, I imagine Jay Leno would be doing jokes on the radio about FDR's wheelchair.
Some things aren't funny, Jay, but why am I telling you? You invented Not Funny.