# The Al Smith dinner **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 18, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986 "2016-10-18T22:47:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/1 "2016-10-18T22:47:41Z")
It’s Thursday. Trump has said he’s going. Will he show? Will it be a complete train wreck? Can Hillary pull off a punch line? Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/2 "2016-10-18T23:03:38Z")
I wonder if Trump knows any good Catholic jokes. Clinton won’t do any serious damage to her campaign. She won’t do any miracles, but she doesn’t need a miracle. Trump will… well, the best-case scenario for Trump is further reinforcing his ceiling of support, as opposed to lowering it. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/3 "2016-10-18T23:27:31Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > I wonder if Trump knows any good Catholic jokes. > > Clinton won’t do any serious damage to her campaign. She won’t do any miracles, but she doesn’t need a miracle. > > Trump will… well, the best-case scenario for Trump is further reinforcing his ceiling of support, as opposed to lowering it. Has anyone seen any evidence that Donald Trump has a sense of humor? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/4 "2016-10-19T00:33:23Z")
Exactly. I thought it was because he didn’t have a sense of humor back at the 2012 WH correspondants dinner that we are in this mess to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/5 "2016-10-19T00:34:49Z")
You’re funny, I’m funny, Obama is damn funny. Trump is not funny. Trump is money, and money ain’t funny. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/6 "2016-10-19T00:57:15Z")
Who is Al Smith? ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/7 "2016-10-19T01:07:35Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Who is Al Smith? [The Al Smith Dinner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Smith_Memorial_Foundation_Dinner) It’s a satirical charity dinner hosted by the Archbishop of New York that invites the presidential candidates and tends to roast both of them. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/8 "2016-10-19T01:28:48Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Exactly. I thought it was because he didn’t have a sense of humor back at the 2012 WH correspondants dinner that we are in this mess to begin with. **Gary Trudeau** was asked that question tonight. He said “no,” that Trump probably decided to run in 2011 when Trump was becoming know because of the birther controversy. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/9 "2016-10-19T02:42:15Z")
I’m willing to bet that Hillary can deliver a humorous line, and more importantly take a ribbing. How could she have survived her years in the East Wing and as Secretary of State without one? I’m pretty sure the same isn’t true of Donald Trump. Just because someone is perceived as a stiff when they’re campaigning doesn’t mean they lack a sense of humor, witness Al Gore on _Futurama_. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/10 "2016-10-19T02:57:59Z")
Trump’s idea of a joke is saying that he doesn’t mind a crying baby at a political rally, and then turning on its mother for believing him. Or saying that he’s going to imprison Hillary if he gets elected. Or saying that [Obama founded ISIS](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/764045345332396032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw). His sense of humor might be too subtle for any of us. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/11 "2016-10-19T03:09:13Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > You’re funny, I’m funny, Obama is damn funny. Trump is not funny. Trump is money, and money ain’t funny. Speaking technically, funny money is a federal crime. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/12 "2016-10-19T03:27:56Z")
Something that I was reading was saying that Trump was always punching up the scripts for The Apprentice to be more funny and extreme. While I’ve never seen him on TV, one presumes that he wouldn’t have made it as a TV personality if he didn’t have a decent sense of humor. Granted, he was usually not the butt of the jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/13 "2016-10-20T21:32:25Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > While I’ve never seen him on TV, one presumes that he wouldn’t have made it as a TV personality if he didn’t have a decent sense of humor. Did you ever see Ed Sullivan on TV?🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/14 "2016-10-20T22:35:08Z")
While Trump was traumatized by the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, he sat through his Comedy Central roast without kicking up too much fuss (once people agreed not to imply he wasn’t as rich as he claimed to be, of course). The Al Smith dinner is a scripted pseudo-event and I think even Donald Trump can get through it without shooting himself in the foot too badly. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/15 "2016-10-21T01:17:05Z")
Damn-he started out funny but now he is just getting mean. He’s getting booed. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-al-smith-dinner/768986/16 "2016-10-21T01:35:58Z")
Meanwhile, she’s mean and getting booed also, but getting in a few good lines.