It's more a matter of writers than delivery. Bush had better writers than Obama does.
At the Al Smith dinner, Bush was much better than Obama. As hard as it is to fathom, his delivery was better -- but much more importantly, his material was better. However, when it comes to going off script, there's no comparison, of course, i.e., Bush has trouble stringing two words together, while Obama is able to think on his feet -- and do that extremely well -- something Bush has never been able to master. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tom Wolper Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 1:53 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [TV orNotTV] Re: The White House Correspondent's Dinner On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 1:37 AM, Michael <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hmmm. That said, Kevin, how do you rate Obama's stand-up chops > compared to Bushie's last few sets at the W.H.C. Dinner? Who wins on a > special presidential edition of "Last Comic Standing"? And I haven't > seen evidence of a real firestorm of outrage in the wake of Sykes' > routine. Especially to the fuss strirred up by Colbert's sneakily > scathing skewering of the Bush Admin and the press when he was the > celebrity roaster a few years ago. Without pretending to be Kevin: There's no need to compare Bush & Obama on standup comedy. Obama is an eloquent speaker with a sense of rhetoric and rhythm while Bush can't bring written material to life. And it doesn't serve as a relevant comparison point for anything they did and do as president, unless you want to make the immature argument that Obama is going to (or has to) do every little thing better than Bush because he is (or has to be proven) a better president. The Colbert appearance at the WHC Dinner was lightning in a bottle. The administration had fallen out of favor with the public and it hadn't set in yet. Colbert was going to come in and do his Colbert Report character and the White House was completely unprepared for it. The result can't be replicated and using it as a standard to hold subsequent comedians makes it too difficult for anybody to do the job well. Tom W --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
