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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)
Ed Brayton also blogs at Positive Liberty and The Panda's Thumb
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Posted on: October 17, 2008 9:30 AM, by Ed Brayton
For those who haven't seen the footage, McCain and Obama appeared last night at a charity dinner in New York to roast themselves and each other. Some of it was very, very funny. McCain was really, really funny.
Here's McCain. There are some great lines in it, especially the Clinton stuff:
And here's Obama. I especially liked, "Fox News recently accused me of fathering two African-American children in wedlock."
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Comments
Although McCain tells a joke better than Obama, neither one should quit their day job. Oh wait, McCain SHOULD quit his day job.
Posted by: jls | October 17, 2008 10:17 AM
I watched most of this live on the Rachel Maddow show -- she started in the middle of McCain's routine, but at the end ran what she'd missed. Over all, I agree that McCain was a little funnier, and has a good dead-pan delivery, but I give Obama extra points for a couple of things. McCain's Olberman comments were unneccesarily nasty and hurt his overall performance; Obama was obviously enjoying McCain's performance while McCain was visibly a bit uncomfortable during Obama's. And Obama did a far better job of 'playing the house' with more material specifically aimed at New York politics, while McCain's was a more 'generic' routine. But McCain's 'introduction' of Obama and play on 'expectations' was the high spot of his routine and priceless.
My favorite Obama line was his 3rd Term one that I won't quote -- some people read the comments before watching the tape.
Posted by: Prup aka Jim Benton | October 17, 2008 10:55 AM
This is one of the things that's confused me about McCain's campaign. I always knew him mostly through his late-night talk show appearances, and he's always been very funny, very relaxed, willing to laugh at himself and politics, very likable.
I don't know what they did with that guy, but he really should have run for President.
Posted by: Jeff Hebert | October 17, 2008 10:57 AM
You see shades of the McCain I grew to like in 2000 and would of voted for if he was the Republican candidate. What the hell happened?
@jls
That's up to the people of Arizona - not you...
Posted by: yoshi | October 17, 2008 10:58 AM
McCain's ending was fantastic, but Obama was much more self-deprecating overall. I thought both of them did a good job just one night after their debate.
Posted by: B8ovin | October 17, 2008 11:29 AM
after this campaign, i can't look at mccain with anything but disgust, so his "funny" falls flat to me. i suppose i should try to be more objective than that, but... naw... he's despicable.
Posted by: arin | October 17, 2008 11:31 AM
What happened to the funny likeable McCain?
Karl Rove and W.
Posted by: t_p_hamilton | October 17, 2008 11:34 AM
I vote for a "Comedy Debate" between the Presidental candidates in 2012. Who's with me? -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | October 17, 2008 11:35 AM
Blame political consultants and kow-towing to the Religious Right, who are noticeably humored impaired. Same thing happened to Bob Dole.
Posted by: gwangung | October 17, 2008 11:45 AM
@gwangung: I wouldn't blame the Religious Right for that; see the Al Gore which has emerged since his presidential campaign in 2000.
Political consultants would seem to be fair game, though.
Posted by: Mark Cook | October 17, 2008 12:17 PM
McCain had better writers and better delivery. My overall impression of his bit was that it sounded a little like a concession speech.
Posted by: Brent | October 17, 2008 12:37 PM
Ironic that McCain is most comfortable in the celebrity limelight, no?
Posted by: tacitus | October 17, 2008 12:43 PM
I don't think I'd blame consultants for this kind of thing so much as the combination of the incessant need to fill 24 hours of news and the public's love for scandal. The same thing happens in sports, when you see well-known athletes constantly spouting the most boring banalities and tired cliches out of a fear of saying something that'll get picked up nationally and turn them into marketing pariahs.
It's a lot easier to "be yourself" when there aren't very many people watching to pick apart every single thing that comes out of your mouth.
Posted by: Jeff Hebert | October 17, 2008 12:46 PM
I couldn't watch McCain. I'm sure he was just lovely, but I know I wouldn't be able to appreciate it at this point.
Obama was pretty funny, I thought, but then, he reminds me of a relative of mine who's sort of dorky and deadpan but is also one of the funniest people I know when he gets going.
It also seemed to me that many of the biggest laughs Obama got from the crowd were when he laughed. I think that his amusement tickled people more than his slightly lame jokes, which is interesting..
Posted by: Hypatia | October 17, 2008 12:47 PM
McCain really is hysterical. I wonder what 25 year old Democrat wrote his jokes?
Posted by: JStein | October 17, 2008 12:51 PM
McCain's Olberman comments were unneccesarily nasty and hurt his overall performance; Obama was obviously enjoying McCain's performance while McCain was visibly a bit uncomfortable during Obama's.
Dude, Obama is a politician. He wasn't "obviously enjoying" anything. He was pretending. Get real!
Posted by: 386sx | October 17, 2008 1:38 PM
What happened to the funny likeable McCain?
It seems people are going out of their way to blame someone other than McCain for his campaign, even here. He's always had an explosive and mean-spirited temper, along with misogynist jokes, in his standard repertoire. And he's chosen to make his campaign an appeal to racism and hate, which for some reason kinda falls flat as a joke, doesn't it. Rove didn't force him to do that, consultants didn't force him to do that, Bush didn't force him to do that, McCain did that.
OTOH, if he truly was forced to do what he didn't want to in his own campaign, why would anyone want such a wuss in the White House. Someone who, supposedly, can't control his own camapign. I think he can and does control his own campaign, and the results aren't pretty.
Posted by: QrazyQat | October 17, 2008 1:42 PM
Obama: better delivery, better jokes. McCain: yawn. Obama was obviously enjoying his own pereformance, McCain obviously not enjoying his own performance.
Posted by: 386sx | October 17, 2008 1:43 PM
Very well put , QQ. But d'you really think he picked his own veep candidate?
Posted by: eddie | October 17, 2008 2:29 PM
Well, if the reports of Mccain's resistance to bringing up Wright are to be believed, I don't think you're right QQ. I think he doesn't think things through very deeply, and he's fairly stupid, but ultimately I don't think he's an evil man. Which is why I think he goes into the type of stupid crap he does (Ayers, Palin, etc.), but at the end of the day he does see the results and he doesn't like it.
That's how I explain his willingness to ultimately correct his supporters when they say "he's an Arab" (despite the fact that his campaign pushed that line of attack), and also the way he defended Palin at the debate, which wasn't nearly as complete as Obama's defense of Biden.
Posted by: Coriolis | October 17, 2008 2:47 PM
McCain's was funnier. Even the funny bits of Obama's stuff didn't have as good a delivery. It's an interesting contrast. Obama is much better at delivering the serious stuff, but McCain's pretty good at making people laugh. IMO.
Posted by: pough | October 17, 2008 2:52 PM
Probably a difference in experience -- McCain's been yucking it up in these circles and in celebrity interviews for decades and is perfectly at home in this arena. This is all still fairly new to Obama, and probably isn't as sure on his feet in this type of setting yet.
Posted by: tacitus | October 17, 2008 3:09 PM
Watch the adults-only HBO presidential debate between Obama and McCain: http://brainrageblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/hbo-presidential-debate.html
Posted by: James Webb | October 17, 2008 5:02 PM
I roared at the part about Krypton and Jor-El. It scared the cat. My wife nearly called 911.
Posted by: Farb | October 17, 2008 6:45 PM
McCain was so natural and funny I almost forgot the horrible joke he once told about Chelsea Clinton. But then I remembered it, and with it his capacity for unrepentant cruelty. And I remembered his 'bomb Iran' song joke, and with it his capacity for cavalier dismissal of important problems. Being funny isn't everything.
Obama is a serious guy with a serious sense of humor - not something everyone gets but it's exactly what we need in a president right now.
Posted by: george.wiman | October 17, 2008 11:54 PM
Coriolis:
"I think he doesn't think things through very deeply, and he's fairly stupid, but ultimately I don't think he's an evil man. Which is why I think he goes into the type of stupid crap he does (Ayers, Palin, etc.), but at the end of the day he does see the results and he doesn't like it."
That assessment + the "football= Vote for Obama.
All pols are actors, plain and simple. They have to be able to turn it on and off like a lightbulb. That is not to say they don't have genuine emotions, or that they are not subject to exposing them in embarassing ways. McCain has had hundreds, if not thousands of interviews and he's done the speaking/lecture circuit for years. I think what makes McCain show so badly (in terms of facial tics, grimaces, etc.,) during the debates and in unscripted moments is that he's playing to an audience that isn't conditioned, as is the MSM--until very recently--to simply accept the notion that he is a decent and honourable man.
Is McCain "Evil"? I suppose that depends on how it's defined. Is McCain Stupid, vainglorious, self-aggrandizing and venal? now, THAT'S a softball question.
So, an evil clone of a much beloved U.S. (POWARHERO) Senator and an evil, neo-cryptic HUSSEINOFASCIST walk into a bar.
Posted by: democommie | October 18, 2008 7:45 AM
McCain was certainly funnier. He seems much more human when he is at ease. Obama's timing is a bit off, and he doesn't seem comfortable with silence. His filler noises (Uhh . . .) throw off his pacing. McCain could go on to host a late night talk show.
Still, look what happened when this country got the guy they were more comfortable having a beer with.
Posted by: Daniel Kim | October 18, 2008 8:29 AM
Personally, I like Obama over McCain, but I was impressed by McCain's praise of Obama in his speech. The fact that Obama did not reciprocate is disappointing. If he had realized in hearing that part that it was missing in his own written speech, Obama could have ad libbed a bit in order to recover. Not very classy.
Posted by: Ex-drone | October 18, 2008 11:19 AM
Ex-drone:
Obama not very classy. Hmmmm. Maybe if he had people at his campaign appearances offering that McCain is a traitor and he should be killed he would feel the need to praise McCain to deflect some of the criticism.
I heard Jim Webb speaking to the host of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" a few months back. When asked about the "Collegial Congress" he said, basically, it was a fantasy. I suspect McCain and Obama were not friendly before the current campaign. I have no doubt they pretty much despise each other at this point; Obama because McCain has scumbags running his campaign (which he has full knowledge of, I suspect) and McCain because he can't believe someone smarter, younger and much more honest is going to trump is POWARHERO schtick.
Posted by: democommie | October 18, 2008 1:07 PM
Sure, McCain was funny. But the day he picked Sarah Palin was The Day The Humor Died.
Posted by: Moon Jaguar | October 18, 2008 3:19 PM
@Ex-drone:
You didn't listen to Obama then? Try about 9:40 onwards.
Posted by: Robin Levett | October 19, 2008 9:37 AM
Maybe it's because I'm a New Yorker but I thought Barack was funnier -- that is until the end when he shamelessly came out with the Godstuff.
I always resent implications that I am one of God's children. My reaction: not me. And from there, he went on. The let's pull together thing would have been heartwarming if it was done in the name of fellow countrymen (as he started out) instead of God. I resent the Godstuff big time.
And, to McCain's credit, he did not go there. Unless I started dozing and missed it.
Posted by: T's Grammy | October 20, 2008 9:30 AM