# President Obama will be on the Tonight Show Thursday **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644 "2009-03-16T18:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644/61 "2009-03-20T19:26:57Z")
The “fireside chats” continue officially as the Presidential Addresses - since Reagan these have been weekly. Generally they have been carried on radio and other media - President Bush introduced a podcast, and Obama a videocast. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644/62 "2009-03-20T19:27:18Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > No offense but that’s one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard. FDR’s been dead for over 60 years so reviving his fireside chats would just be… gross. Well, I wouldn’t _call_ them that. You make it sound like I’m suggesting he dig up FDR and prop his corpse in a matching wing-back chair. 🙂 I just meant some sort of weeking (or periodic) casual update, either by himself or with some soft-ball questioner (“So what’s been going on at the White House this week?”). Maybe a podcast, or a posted video clip, but something less formal and cold-sounding than “The Presidential Address,” which AFICT most people don’t listen to anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644/63 "2009-03-20T19:31:58Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > Well, I wouldn’t _call_ them that. You make it sound like I’m suggesting he dig up FDR and prop his corpse in a matching wing-back chair. 🙂 Well, yeah. Can I call whoosh? Can I, can I? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644/64 "2009-03-20T19:49:23Z")
I posted this in the other thread too but for what its worth Obama is apparently not the first POTUS to appear on a comedic talk show while in office. IMDB says Clinton was on Letterman’s show on May 14, 1997. [Cite](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001051/) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644/65 "2009-03-20T20:12:36Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > He’ll go on Leno and get a handjob. > > He’ll go on 60 Minutes and get a blowjob. > > But he won’t go on Rush Limbaugh’s show, because he knows that Rush will ride him like a mule. Whether you like Rush or not is immaterial; Obama won’t go somewhere where he will actually have to answer hard questions. Pretty much. Which is why his spokescritters can something like > [@](#): > > “It’s a good place to talk about the economy and the choices and challenges we face,” Gibbs told CNN Monday and not get laughed at. Oh yeah - _The Tonight Show_ is known for the high caliber of its economic analysis. :rolleyes: Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644/66 "2009-03-20T20:21:38Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Oh yeah - _The Tonight Show_ is known for the high caliber of its economic analysis. Depends on who he’s talking to and what he’s talking about. If he’s looking for solutions from experts in the field, you’re right. If he’s looking to offer laypeople some insight and reassurance about what exactly is happening, a popular talk show isn’t a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644/67 "2009-03-20T20:26:52Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Oh yeah - _The Tonight Show_ is known for the high caliber of its economic analysis. Anyone remember when Leno first took over The Tonight Show? He wanted to raise the tone and level of discussion. He did indeed have an economist on in the first week. It was a boring interview and Leno’s booking strategy was quickly overruled. ---
**Author:** ![tds1273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644/68 "2009-03-20T21:55:15Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > I posted this in the other thread too but for what its worth Obama is apparently not the first POTUS to appear on a comedic talk show while in office. IMDB says Clinton was on Letterman’s show on May 14, 1997. [Cite](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001051/) Maybe Obama is the first to appear in studio? I really have no clue, but I would guess that he sent in a video, perhaps reading the Top Ten List or something. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644/69 "2009-03-20T22:06:34Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Depends on who he’s talking to and what he’s talking about. If he’s looking for solutions from experts in the field, you’re right. If he’s looking to offer laypeople some insight and reassurance about what exactly is happening, a popular talk show isn’t a bad idea. And if he just wants someone to fawn on him the way a mother does her retarded child who just got a participation certificate for bowling in the Special Olympicshe goes on 60 Minutes. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644/70 "2009-03-21T03:23:45Z")
[tweak] > [@DMark](#): > > The [ratings](http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/03/obama-sets-tonight-show-record.html) for the show were an all-time high - matching the viewers who tuned in for the Johnny Carson tribute show. Ah come on, in honor of Shodan, let’s have that headline: Obama’s ‘Tonight Show’ audience largest in years Looks like the American people really do want to hear what he has to say. It’s so nice to have a popular, intelligent, interesting, humble and caring president, one who works FOR the American people. [/tweak] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-obama-will-be-on-the-tonight-show-thursday/489644.md?page=3)