Funniest as in ‘ha ha’, and intentionally funny - laughing with them, not at them. So joke with a punchline, not hilariously trying to open a locked door.
Which presidents could have been stand-up comedians if they hadn’t gone in to politics? Obama is known to crack a fair few jokes but for my money Reagan (the actor?!) is definitely the funniest, he has a great delivery and comic timing . Plus, anyone with the balls to joke about nuclear war has a commitment to comedy I can’t fail to appreciate. He also had a sense of self-depreciation rare for men in lofty positions, Lincoln too shared the quality and sense of humour saying once “…if I were two-faced, would I be showing you this one?”
But that’s just me. Which president do you reckon had the best sense of humour and talent for comedy?
I do a President Day bar crawl every year. We each wear a shirt with the President’s name we have chosen. The funniest are Taft (me), Clinton (always with a cigar), and Lincoln (Hey Blinkin).
Not sure if any of that transfers to real life, but we all pretend to be channelling.
ETA: forgot to mention McGovern, but she’s more pathetic than funny, IMO.
W is a war criminal and the worst Pres ever but it’s sad that as Gov of Texas he was a really amusing guy. Hint to country: don’t elect any more of us President…
I think Obama always delivers his lines well at the Correspondents’ Dinner. The year he went up there and told jokes, working over Donald Trump, the day before the operation to kill Bin Laden, was pretty impressive. 'Course I’m an Obama fan, so I’m biased. But I think the man can tell a joke.
Millard Fillmore, judging by all the old radio-program comedians who claimed to be able to imitate him. (That was a common schtick, according to my father, who grew up during the Golden Age of radio.)
I agree Reagan’s wit and delivery is top notch, and the cadence to his voice made him all that much easier to listen to. Definitely the funniest. Clinton was charming but not really all that funny. Obama can deliver a joke and is funniest when he’s making fun of himself, but overall he doesn’t seem to have that sarcastic/biting wit Reagan did. George Bush Sr. wouldn’t have known funny if it sold weapons to Iran to fund Nicaraguan Contras.
FDR had a very dry sense of humor, and it came in the “talking down to the republicans” sort of way. Example: Warning about todays republicans. That bit made me laugh. And it made the audience laugh a lot too.
In a related category, Bob Dole might have had the best sense of humor of any Presidential candidate. One zinger:
“History buffs probably noted the reunion at a Washington party a few weeks ago of three ex-presidents: Carter, Ford and Nixon - See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Evil.”
Which is ironic, because I remember, during the 1996 election, thinking how starched and dry and bland Dole seemed, especially in contrast to the younger, “cooler” Clinton. Maybe he was just out of his comfort zone. Maybe some guys just aren’t meant to be President.
Some listen to their handlers too much. Bush Jr used to be a fast talking slick speaker. He was told it didn’t play well on camera. He slowed down which made him look slow and stupid. But look back at when he was working on Daddy’s campaign. Much different.
IIRC Dole was told to dial back his humor because it didn’t look presidential and he tends to be sarcastic and biting. But it made him look stiff and humorless. Which killed him next to the charming Clinton
I recently saw an article about Romney. Talking to him now he comes across as a warm and charming human. During the campaign he was a cardboard cutout of a candidate. Sometimes trying to look presidential hurts more helps.
I’m almost sure that’s deliberate. I saw Tim Pawlenty give a few speeches and speak in one or two of the Republican primary debates in '08. He was fucking awful; dry as a bone, and even when he tried to be funny he was flat as year-old soda.
Then he was on Colbert a few weeks after dropping out, and he was hilarious. Killed it. And not because Stephen was feeding him slow pitches or anything. He was just obviously a really witty guy. I really warmed up to him after roasting him on the SDMB for weeks.
I can only assume people were telling him to be boring because being funny is unpresidential or whatever. I didn’t realize it until recently, but apparently Clinton got roasted in 1992 for going on the Arsenio Hall Show. People thought it was inappropriate for a presidential candidate to appear on a late-night talk show. Cut to today and Bush and Obama have been on as presidents.
Republicans being Republicans, it would not surprise me at all if many GOP voters still think presidents should be unfunny.
I think the funniest person ever nominated to be President is John McCain. I would never vote for him, but his performance in sketches on Saturday Night Live and on some other things were great. He could have made it as a comedian.
Well, when I judge how funny a President is, I’m not thinking so much “Who can tell a funny anecdote at a press conference?” I’m thinking more, “if I were hanging out at a coffee shop or a bar with a couple of friends and ONE President, which President do I think would crack us all up?”
I voted against Bill Clinton twice, but he always seemed like a guy who’d break me up if we were hanging out tiogether.
Of all Presidents in my lifetime, Obama and Nixon are the two that seemed to have NO sense of humor- who recognized that they had to TRY to show some kind of funny, self-deprecating side, but who just lack the ability to laugh at themselves.