Jay Leno
Obama on “Leno”
The president dishes on Republican obstructionism and his feelings about the protest movement VIDEO
(Credit: NBC) President Obama took a detour through late-night television yesterday evening for an hour-long conversation with Jay Leno that touched on matters of both domestic and international import. Also, the Kardashians.
After hashing through a variety of foreign policy issues in the first portion of the interview (which you can see here), the conversation’s focus shifted stateside. Among the issues Leno and Obama tackled were Republican obstructionism, executive orders, and Occupy Wall Street. On the last point, Obama continued in his efforts to tap into the growing anger of the 99 percent:
The American people feel like nobody’s looking out for them right now. Traditionally, what held this country together was this notion that if you work hard, if you’re playing by the rules, if you’re responsible, if you’re looking out for your family, you’re showing up for work everyday and doing a good job, you’ve got a chance to get ahead and succeed. Right now, it feels to people like the deck’s stacked against them, and the folks in power don’t seem to be paying attention to that.
If everybody’s tuned into that message — and we are working every single day to figure out how do we give people a fair shake, and everybody’s doing their fair share — then people won’t be occupying the streets, because they’ll have a job and they’ll feel like they’re able to get ahead. But right now they’re frustrated. Part of my job over the next year is to make sure, if they’re not seeing it out of Congress, at minimum they’re going to see in their president someone who’s fighting for them.
Today’s must-see viral videos
Jay Leno loses his crowd, "Glee" knights itself into memehood, and we learn the true meaning of Independence Day
1. “Independence Day” on Independence Day
While most of us spent July 4th blowing up fireworks to celebrate our emancipation from the Brits, comedian Sean Kleier made us remember the true meaning of Independence Day by reciting Bill Pullman’s speech from the movie all over New York City.
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Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.
Jay Leno bombs with Casey Anthony jokes
Unfunny at the best of times, Leno made us wish for Stewart and Colbert to return from vacation
Casey Anthony talks with a supporter in court following the end of her murder trial where she was acquitted of murder charges in Orlando, Fla. Tuesday, July 5, 2011. Anthony had been charged with killing her daughter, Caylee. (AP Photo/Red Huber, Pool)(Credit: AP) On Tuesday night, Jay Leno reminded us not to watch late night comedy shows when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are off the air on vacation.
The Tonight Show host opened with a few cracks about the Casey Anthony verdict:
“It was so hot today, people were as delirious and incoherent as a Florida jury,” he “quipped,” he then tried to deliver a second joke — “This [verdict] means President Obama’s economic team is only the second most clueless group of people in America,” — which he had to repeat because his audience failed to laugh first time around.
We invite you to cringe with us:
Natasha Lennard covers the Occupy movement for Salon. A British-born, Brooklyn-based journalist, she has been covering Occupy Wall Street since before the first sleeping bag was unrolled in Zuccotti Park. One of the first journalists arrested at an Occupy action, she has managed to enrage Andrew Breitbart, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. You can follow her on Twitter (@natashalennard), and email her any Occupy updates/videos/ideas to natasha.lennard@gmail.com More Natasha Lennard.
Today’s must-see viral videos
Watch: The Tea Party gets a trailer, Louis C.K. will trade sexual acts for pills, and Obama lends his car phone
President Obama lets a kid use his telephone to call whoever he wants. 1. White Whines: The rap
Technically this is called “First World Rap,” but that’s just being politically correct. Running out of organic milk? Having your computer charger all the way on the other side of the room? Those complaints need to be sent directly to the ministry of this.
2. Louis C.K.’s pro-drug stance
Continue Reading CloseDrew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.
“Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop”: Backstage with Coco
A fascinating backstage documentary probes the egomaniacal comedian's "despair" after a $45 million payday
Conan O'Brien “I’m sick of people saying that I’m drunk with power! Or that I’ve lost perspective!” shouts Conan O’Brien at his sycophantic staff, during one of many moments of edgy backstage needling in Rodman Flender’s documentary “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop.” Yeah, it’s a joke, of course. But it also represents a vein of uncomfortable humor that runs all the way through this fascinating film, a chronicle of O’Brien’s “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television” tour, which brought the comedian’s traveling vaudeville act to 32 North American cities during his six-month, post-”Tonight Show” banishment from the small screen last year.
Continue Reading CloseJay Leno’s all-purpose commencement address
Comedian's speech to the Class of 2011 is more like an episode from "America's Funniest Home Videos"
Graduation season is not quite over yet. For those of you who haven’t heard a commencement speech this year, Jay Leno obligingly performed an all-purpose one last night — intercutting familiar, clichéd phrases (“Hold your head high and your feet firmly planted,” “You wear your education on your sleeve”) with cringeworthy home videos of college-student escapades. See it here:
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Emma Mustich is a Salon contributor. Follow her on Twitter: @emustich. More Emma Mustich.
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