Culture

Obama Totally Nailed ‘Between Two Ferns’

"What's it like to be the last black President?"

by Steph Harmon  12 March 2014

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Well, it happened.

In a bid to remind young Americans to register for health insurance before the end-of-month deadline, President Barack Obama appeared on cult favourite interview series Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis overnight — and, as we predicted, he opened with a fat joke: “Was that depressing to you, seeing one [pardoned] turkey taken out of circulation? A turkey you couldn’t eat?”

[Cue obligatory long pause]

The episode was surprising for a few reasons. First, Zach Galifianakis didn’t hold back at all. He stumbled over Obama’s name, became maybe the first person to ever shush him, and asked, “What’s it like to be the last black president?” There was a basketball diss, a birth certificate joke, and he even made a dig at the (initially botched) website Obama was appearing on the show to plug. “Why would you get the guy that created the Zune to create your website?”

The second surprise was Obama’s commitment to the deadpan, combative tone of the show, and ability to follow it through. “Actually, I think it’s a good idea,” he said, of the two-term limit on American presidencies. “If I ran a third time it’d be sort of like doing a third Hangover movie. It didn’t really work out very well, did it?”

And after Galifianakis called him a nerd: “Do you think a woman like Michelle would want to marry a nerd? Why don’t you ask her if she thinks I’m a nerd?” the president retorted, nodding menacingly. “Could I?” asked Zach.

“No. I’m not going to let her near you.”

The third surprise? It worked.

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It’s the second win for Funny Or Die this month, who last week released the insanely viral hype-reel for the obviously-a-hoax hoverboard, HUVR. But this one kinda trumps it, partly because the conservatives hated it so much.

Between Two Ferns producer and Comedy Bang Bang host Scott Aukermann tweeted out a behind-the-scenes pic from the White House, where it was shot — and everyone looks Very Excited Indeed.

pic