Hillary Will Be at the Laff Shack All Week

Photo of Mark Finkelstein.
By Mark Finkelstein | January 3, 2008 - 12:40 ET

If things don't work out for Hillary with this presidential thing, she can always do stand-up out in LA. Or not. If you didn't catch her side-splitter on last night's Letterman, you can view it here, as rebroadcast on MSNBC this morning.

For those taking nitrates who might not want to risk a sudden drop in blood pressure by watching the clip, here's the text of Hillary's rib tickler:

Dave has been off the air for eight long weeks because of the writers' strike. Tonight he's back. Oh well. All good things come to an end.

Hillary, stop. You're killing me here.

On yesterday's Morning Joe, Tim Russert claimed [view video here] that he never editorializes on Meet the Press. Debatable. But speaking with Hillary communications director Howard Wolfson this morning, Russert not-so-subtly suggested that sending Hillary out to do shtick might not be the best campaign strategy.

He opened his interview with Wolfson by playing the clip of Hillary's stab at humor, then managed to stay deadpan while asking "why do you as a communication person think it's in a candidate's interest to put her on a program like that the night before Iowa?"

Translation: if I had to choose between listening to Hillary do comedy or being waterboarded . . .

Wolfson gamely claimed that "it was fun" and that "I don't think it's going to have an enormous impact on the race." He better hope not.

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.

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It's an obvious attempt to show Hillary's human side.

I hear that she had to rehearse for hours to get the delivery to be cute instead of vindictive and to smile instead of sneer.

The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.

I thought she had a stunt

I thought she had a stunt double to smile for her?

 

 

Newsbusters. Log on and find out What the heck is so yummy over here!

LOL!

LOL!

Human side??????

Human side??????

C'mon....she delivered that line with the same phony, every-voice inflection-and-facial-expression-practiced manner she uses to deliver her campaign speeches.

well she's much better at

well she's much better at comedy than public service IMHO...

(rimshot)

She should write for

She should write for Newsbusted!

She cant

Violates her contract with the Daily Show.

Well, I do think Letterman

Well, I do think Letterman stole our laugh track ;-)

Speaking of Letterman,

Speaking of Letterman, anyone watch him last night? He had a full beard! Apparently hasn't shaved since the writer's strike began.

Too bad we cannot blame his

Too bad we cannot blame his un-funniness on the writer's strike. Perhaps his writers have been on strike for the past 15 years?

Dave is an acquired taste.

Dave is an acquired taste. Some like him, some don't. But I'll take him over Leno any day.

I really like Conan, but...I can't stay up that late. Used to love it when Comedy Central had his reruns on during the day.

Or an acquired distaste

Letterman reminds me of the "house comedian" in a fraternity....telling jokes that the members laugh at....but not the guests.

To paraphrase an old line,

To paraphrase an old line, his jokes are written with an eye to appealing to perhaps eight people. Everyone else laughs because they want to be "in" on the "joke". Even then, sometimes, he says something that only he understands as being funny, and that's when the laughter turns nervous.

I give my thumbs up to

I give my thumbs up to Conan too...maybe because I'm a tall lanky guy with bad dance moves and a goofy sense of humor.

 

...IN THE YEAR 2000!!!!!!!!!

 

Do you realize how much it costs to run for office? More than any honest man could afford. -Montgomery Burns

Bal, As a high school and

Bal,
As a high school and college student in the early-mid-late 1980's, I watched Letterman from pretty much his beginning on NBC. I met Larry Bud Melman, even got some "toast on a stick" from him once. I remember monkey-cam, the first time he did his "Top Ten List", Chris Elliot, etc...
Let's face it, he is NOT funny anymore. He USED to be funny, but now he looks like he is tired, bored, and going through the motions.
Comparing him to two other crappy talk shows isn't much of a defense... :)

No disagreement that he was

No disagreement that he was funnier, zanier before. But now he's like an old pal.

Conan is laugh-out-loud funnier, and they're the best late night talk show options out there.

HAHA /golf clap

HAHA

/golf clap

Was she being funny?

Was she being funny?

Only when filming campaign

Only when filming campaign ads.

all good things

Does this make Hill a SCAB?

What is her union support's position on her involvement with the Letterman show?

Letterman & the writers reached a deal.

Leno's the one who didn't. Somehow Huckabee expects people (presumably people with substantial faith in what Huckabee says...) to believe he "didn't know." Color me dubious...
JMR

Rally online with fans of Dr. Ron Paul. (All purpose anti-slander-link, sadly-needed these days...)

All good things come to an end...

I think it is smart of her to start working on her "All good things come to an end" speech ...

it was the delivery that stunk; not the line itself

The line was lame, but it was the DELIVERY that turned my stomach. Fortunately, I heard it on the radio and didn't have to watch it, but......anyone could have delivered that line better than she did.

 

It's not Right vs. Left; it is Right vs. Wrong

What a phony...I never

What a phony...I never would have believed that someone could be phonier than BJ, but she's doing it.

As if Letterman isn't a kool-aid drinking Clintonista who does his best to propagate the Democrat cause....

"Ah gyuess she be re-toolin' her rap."

RJ

GMTA...see my comment above "Human side???" for my assessment of her delivery.

OK, motherbelt....but can mattm look, too?

:^) 

NO!! Just you!!!

NO!! Just you!!! LOL

mattm, don't you DARE peek!!

Hillary's Comedy Timing

Apparently she is delivering her lines better than "President" Limbaugh and "Vice-President" Coulter did on "The 1/2 Hour News Hour." Her ratings may be trending down, but her show hasn't been cancelled yet.

Obama 36% - Edwards 27% - Satan 22% - Clinton 15%

 With a little luck tonight will be the beginning of the end for this focus-group created woman and her perverted husband. Our country needs to begin the long process of restoring a little morality and dignity to the White House. I cannot believe the downhill spiral these two phonies put this country into in the 90's, and it sickens me to think they could get a second pass at sliming the office.

put a steak through her heart already ...

I'm torn about this because as much as I'd like to see her go down in the Primaries, I think she'd be the easiest to beat in the General election ...

What do you think?

Well done!

And it's rare that I'd say that...
JMR

Rally online with fans of Dr. Ron Paul. (All purpose anti-slander-link, sadly-needed these days...)

I agree, but my fear is

I agree, but my fear is that the dem's would be able to motivate enough uninformed women, flaming gays and voting-illegal aliens to carry her all the way. Not worth the risk.

An example is a nurse I was talking to this morning. The subject of politics came up and she said she will vote for Clinton. I told her I would support Romney. She asked me who is Romney and I told her he was running in the Republican party. She then told me the she though only Clinton, Edwards and Obama were running for President this year. Keep in mind, a nurse has a college education.

Scares the hell out of me.

 

Put her away now!! Just

Put her away now!!

Just imagine the full court press the media and pundits will scour the airwaves with Hillary, running in the general, propping her up as if it were the second coming. Letting her get to one step away from getting the keys to the white house is not a chance worth risking. If one of the other 2 lightweights were able to get in, they'll self destruct in less than 4 years. Hillary has her machine to attack, smear, distort, destroy, mutilate, anyone who gets in her way, with the lapdog press clearing the path for her. 

kankles,

vapid, disgruntled (soon to be), commie.

Hillary probably got that

Hillary probably got that joke from Gandhi down at the 7-11.

When asked if he went to war with Iraq to derail the impeachment vote: “I don’t think any serious person would believe that any President would do such a thing." - President Clinton (Dec 1998).

Oh wait

That would be a racist statement.Oh my mistake Hillary is a dem so it is ok.Guess Sawyer and Cuomo missed that.