Barack Obama Slow Jams the News

Apologies for the lack of recent posts, but here's a really great political comedy clip.

Check out Barack Obama slow jamming the news on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (from Tuesday's broadcast).




The Barack Obama slow jam was followed by an interview with Jimmy Fallon. The interview focused a bit on politics but primarily allowed Obama to appear as the cooler candidate for President (at least when compared with Mitt Romney).

Jon Stewart rehashed the Obama slow jam on last night's episode of The Daily Show. In fact, Obama's appearance has drawn a considerable amount of attention from traditional and new media outlets -- it serves as the latest political comedy moment.


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The general consensus is that Obama did a pretty good job with the slow jam, although some feel he was a bit too "academic" when sharing the facts about the student loan issue. 

Speaking of academics, the slow jam appearance echoes my own recent research on the differential impact of self-directed vs. other-directed hostile humor. The bottom line: viewers interpret varied types of comedy differentially. Exposure to hostile humor (think SNL, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and network comedians like Jimmy Fallon) can have a negative impact on viewer attitudes. While the jury is still out on the full impact of self-directed humor or politicians' attempts at performing as comic actors, appearances like Obama's slow jam can have a real impact -- particularly among those who don't pay close attention to politics.

It seems that Obama is keyed in to the importance of these late night comedy appearances. Will Mitt Romney jump on the comedy bandwagon?




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