It was the golden age of Presidential comedy. The President of the United States from 1993--2000 was beloved by many, but trust me when I tell you that nobody loved him more than the nation's comedy writers.
David Letterman started featuring classic Clinton jokes a year or two into Bush's first term because he missed the comedy potential so much. Jay Leno would go weeks without doing jokes about anyone else. The Daily Show cut it's comedic teeth during these years.
George Bush looked like he had comedic potential at first with his mispronunciations, but then September 11th happened, and now every Presidential joke offends about half of the country.
In the 1990s, we could laugh as one country, united in the realization that we were living in the golden age of Presidential comedy. A blue dress. A cigar. A really unpleasant whistle blower. An uptight First Lady. A chubby intern. An independent prosecutor who leaked the most lurid details. A Congressman leading the impeachment who himself had a youthful indiscretion (at age 41). An impeached President with a 70% approval rating. A 6-foot tall female Attorney General who kick any one of our butts. "It depends on what your definition of is is."
I could go on and on. I'm tearing up a little now remembering how easy it was in those days...
The John Landecker Show certainly took part in the comedy free-for-all. We had not one, not two, not three, but four songs about the President: "Big Macarena," "Intern with the Blue Dress On," "The Chipmunks Impeachment Song," and "He's the President." The biggest hit was "He's the President," which appears on Landecker & the Legends, Volume 5. Picture if you will, a man with a President Clinton mask on, dancing on-stage with the Legends as John sang this song. It was a regular part of our stage show for three or four years. "He's the President"
(Landecker/Kaempfer)
(To the tune of "The Wanderer" by Dion)
Well there was slick Willie, talking on TV,
Said he didn't perjure based on technicalities,
We all loved his TV song and dance,
What's the matter with you Clinton can't you keep it in your pants?
He's the President,
Yeah he's the President,
In charge of foreign and domestic affairs.
Before you get feathers and before you get your tar,
JFK did it, and so did FDR,
Harding had a love child, Bill never went that far,
He just treated the oval office like the back seat of a car.
He's the President,
Yeah he's the President,
In charge of foreign and domestic affairs.
Well the ladies all look so fine,
And Bill wandered all the time,
With women 18 to 69,
But when it came to Janet Reno that's where Clinton drew the line.
Though Starr may be hated and the same with Linda Tripp,
Bill wouldn't have these problems if he just kept it zipped,
Now the only thing that's stiff is Bill's upper lip,
Or Hillary will go Bobbitt, she won't hesitate to snip.
The President.
Yeah he's the President,
In charge of foreign and domestic affairs.
So the whole country watched, the President's speech,
And some of us forgave him, and some of us preached,
But there's only a few hundred that he really had to reach,
The members of Congress with the power to impeach,
The President
Yeah, the President.
In charge of foreign and domestic affairs.
VP CORNER
While I've never actually met a President before, I have met a Vice President. Dan Quayle was another favorite target during the golden age of Presidential comedy. I met him just after he and the first President Bush lost the election to Clinton. He was appearing at Marshall Field's and signing copies of his book. I got a press pass, and although he wasn't doing any radio interviews, I brought my tape recorder anyway. Seeing that I was the only press person to show up, he agreed to do a short interview with me. I found him to be very pleasant and engaging. The main topic of our conversation was the origin of the term "Hoosier" (he's from Indiana). We replayed the interview on the air the next day. When Quayle announced he was dropping out of the 2000 Presidential race about seven years later, I wrote a song about him too. It can found on the last Landecker & the Legends CD, "20th Century Hits & Bits".
I guess I'll never understand why our current Vice President feels he needs to go hunting this very nice man (Quayle). I hope he never successfully shoots him.If you missed any of the previous "From The Archives," click here: http://rickkaempferarchives.blogspot.com
