Sykes is odd to me in that I’ve seen her in movies where I thought she was funny, I’ve seen her on talk shows where I thought she was brilliantly funny, and yet I find the stand up her career in comedy is built on very unfunny. I don’t like her timing, I don’t like her delivery, and even her material isn’t that great, except when she’s closer to being herself when it rocks.
She’s hysterically funny on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
I think she’s funnier in general when she doesn’t have to clean it up.
Need answers fast?
Has anyone else noticed Obama’s head motions when he’s reading a speech? He does the same moves over and over every time. Head down, reading, then up to the left, then back down, then up to the right. Down, left, down, right, down, left, down, right, etc, etc. I noticed it a couple of months ago, and now it’s all I can see. It’s very distracting.
It’s a rare public speaker that does not have a tic or mannerism, it’s just that some are more noticeable than others (e.g. Clinton’s lip-bite). But all in all a good performance (And George and Laura could get some good ones in, when they and the writers clicked…)
And Sykes did not impress me. I just cringed with the “kidneys” line.
Hahaha. You’re right.
Can someone explain that one to this non-American ? I don’t have the faintest clue as to who this Rahm character is 
@Smeg : yes ! I noticed that as well. I also noticed a few awkward timings or accentuation patterns - it’s pretty clear to me he didn’t write his speech himself. Still, either he’s a great actor, or he’s really enjoying himself immensely by saying some of those jokes. I prefer to believe the latter - but I’m a naive kinda cynical guy 
Rahm is Rahm Immanuel, the White House Chief of Staff. The ‘Mother’ reference is that he’s more likely to use the phrase “mother fucker” than “Mother’s Day”.
You’ll never be able to watch one of his speeches again without watching his head movement, mesmerized. Oh, crap! I think I just stumbled upon his str
John Kerry used to lick his lips every five seconds during his speeches. It was disgusting. He looked like some kind of loathesome reptile.
So, let me see if I understand the approach of the White House Correpsondents’ dinner.
When a Republican is President, the headling comedian trashes the Republicans (this is called “courageously speaking truth to power,” though there are no possible negative consequences for doing so).
And when a Democrat is President, the headlining comedian trashes the Republicans.
As for Wanda Sykes, I’d be a little more impressed if she’d had the guts to twit Barack Obama. HE’S the PResident, not Rush Limbaugh, and HE’S the one who could be doing something to further her agenda.
Think about it- Barack Oabama has the power to revoke Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and he COULD, singlehandedly order that gays be allowed to serve openly at all levels of the military (persoanlly, I stand on the far Right for the most part, but I’d actually support such a Presdiential edict). He hasn’t done that.
I don’t know about you, but if I were a “courageous” liberal comedian up on a dais with President Obama, I’d “speak truth to power” and use every joke in my arsenal to rip him a new orifice. I’d call him a gutless wonder, and demand to know WHY he didn’t take such a simple action weeks or months ago. Why was the supposedly “sassy” Wanda Sykes kissing Obama’s butt instead of kissing it? Why wasn’t she asking him, “Are you a homophobic bigot, or just a wimp who’s afraid to do the right thing”?
What’s the matter, Wanda? Intimidated by Obama? Afraid other liberals wouldn’t like you raining on his parade?
Wanda, you’re a pitiful excuse for an iconoclast.
Make that, “Why was she kissing his butt instead of kicking it?”
I actually thought W was pretty funny at times. He got an audible snicker when, after a visit to Canada, he said, “I appreciate all the folks who waved at me…with all five fingers.”
You’re right. Rich Little should have shown more respect.
No, not usually. *Stephen Colbert * did, and that was waaaaay atypical that’s why it became international news. Most entertainers at the dinner during the Bush White House (Drew Carey, Jay Leno, Cedric the Entertainer, others) were far less controversial: a little ribbing, but they didn’t go Colbert.
National Review Online blasts Sykes for being mean to poor little Limbaugh and Hannity, as do other editorials. Limbaugh and Hannity supporters are the original “can dish it out but can’t take it” crowd it seems.
From that editorial:
Oh right. I’m sure that if Dennis Miller had ripped Jon Stewart a new one you’d have been just mortified wouldn’t you?
Oh. Good. God.
Don’t blame the approach of the comedian on the organizers of the dinner. The organizers and audience seemed stunned and uncomfortable with Colbert’s approach two years ago (although I don’t know how that was possible) and they may be taking a heavier hand these days.
What I loved was that in 2007 he was telling Jimmy Carter jokes. He should have gone with something more current like “What’s with these Rubik Cubes and Cabbage Patch dolls?” or some well timed jokes about the Cannonball Run movies, either of which would have been much more recent.
Back to my biggest stated beef with Wanda:
Miss California has been trashed mercilessly in the mass media for tepidly opposing gay marriage.
Her public stance is EXACTLY the same as Barack Obama’s!
So come on, Wanda- why weren’t you slamming Obama as a bigot or a coward? Miss California has NO power to help or hurt gays in America. Barack Obama has a LOT of power. So, why aren’t you giving HIM the Carrie Prejean treatment?
With just a word, Obama could end discrimination against gays in the military. THAT’S real, practical power. So far, he hasn’t shown any inclination to USE that power?
Why the heck not? And morei mportantly, why weren’t YOU asking him, publicly, “Why the heck not?”
Exactly. The guy who hired Colbert hadn’t seen very much of Colbert’s work and was totally clueless as to who he’d just signed. Colbert took the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and ran with it, much to the horror of all the Republicans present and watching, and much to the delighted surprise of all the Democrats present and watching.
Love it! Hey, wasn’t National Review the one who forced out the son of the founder because he supported Obama? Some guy named Buckley, yeah? Son of, oh what’s his name? It’s on the tip of my tongue…ah ha! Got it, son of William F. Buckley.
It’s still amazing and hilarious how little these people realize just what laughingstocks the Republicans and their mouthpieces are now. They honestly have no clue, and it’s so much fun to watch. It’s like watching a formerly intimidating but now-powerless bully walk around still glowering at everybody, spouting threats and nasty insults, but with toilet paper stuck to his shoe, spinach in his teeth, and a handwritten “I’m An Idiot” sign on his back.
Wait, what? First of all, President Obama was furious about that stupid photo op, and apologized for it. The guy who did it without Obama’s permission resigned in disgrace. How is that letting him take the fall? I suppose the National Review thinks that President Obama should have been the one to resign.
Oh jesus, he wasn’t laughing at the people of New York or about what happened. My god these people are loonballs. Every day they top themselves in loonballery.
And where were the National Review’s offenderati when Bush joked at one of his White House Correspondents Dinners that maybe Saddam’s WMD’s were hiding under the table? Tens if not hundreds of thousands of people were killed, murdered, maimed, lives destroyed, by Bush’s war over the imaginary WMDs, and he was laughing.
I think Stephen Colbert was funniest because he was probably hired by a White House that thought he was a conseervative. It was definitely the funniest White House Correspondence dinner ever. After that, it’s quite clear that the pubbies tried to go as low key as possible with Rich Little. I think Stephen Colbert is the only White House Correspondence Speaker to so successfully trash the president in his face. I still go back to watch it once in a while.
Wanda was OK, but way better than Rich Little. Certainly ripping on Limbaugh was good for her career. I thought Bush’s little deal with the impersonator was very funny.