At last night’s Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York City, both presidential candidates delivered pretty funny speeches, taking jabs at each other and themselves.
But while Sen. John McCain’s address probably was funnier, Sen. Barack Obama may have scored more points with the nerd crowd with two comics references.
The first came in his opening when he said, “I was thrilled to get this invitation and I feel right at home here because it’s often been said that I share the politics of Alfred E. Smith and the ears of Alfred E. Neumann.”
The second, and far funnier one, was when he addressed a repeated question from the McCain campaign — “Who is Barack Obama?” — and the mocking, and rather messianic, label “The One.”
“Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger,” he told the crowd at the white-tie charity roast. “I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the Planet Earth.”
You can watch the McCain and Obama speeches at YouTube, or read the transcripts here.
Established in 1946 by Francis Cardinal Spellman and named for the former governor of New York, the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation supports the poor, sick and underprivileged in the Archdiocese of New York.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
McCain funny, Kevin he’s a conservative thaye ain’t funny!
October 17th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
John McCain, funny? I guess spreading a rumor about Obama being a secret Muslim is pretty hilarious….
October 17th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Obama was cutting up. It was hilarious. His speech writers must have had a great time writing that one.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Both were very funny with McCain coming on top, who’d have thunk it?. McCain was consistently funny but Obama had some great lines.
And there’s nothing wrong with having writers, the best comedians often have a team of writers behind them.
October 17th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Well, John McCain has been known to dress up as Captain America at his rallies, so there’s that.
October 17th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Says you Kevin…
Yeah, I’m biased for Obama, but I still think he was more funny than McCain. McCain was more funny (unintentionally) by having to go grovel at Letterman’s feet after blowing him off like he did a few weeks ago, and then getting all upset (and trying not to show it, but failing) when Dave started asking him questions that the mainstream press oughta be asking him but aren’t!
October 17th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I also thought McCain was funnier during his speech, but Obama’s spiel just had me rolling my eyes.
But lets face it as well, people won’t find McCain’s stuff funny because of what’s done otherwise rather then anything said there.
October 18th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Obama had a good joke about his middle name. Then he tried to follow up on the middle name joke with another middle name joke, which was bad.
The Superman joke fell flat for me because it sounded like the first time he’s said the name Jor-El and has never seen the original Superman movie.
McCain’s always had a better comedic timing, like when he hosted SNL in 2004.
October 19th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Personally, I was surprised that either man had a sense of humor. But McCain clearly brought down the house by brilliantly poking fun at himself and his opponents. The fact that he was well received in a REALLY Blue State (New York) is miraculous.
Here are the links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Goaj5V4tZoc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrqoSyKsAPw
McCain’s best line: “Maverick I can do, but Messiah is above my pay grade.”