UPDATED with more details: “I am very appreciative that tonight’s guest could take time away from helping to rig the election and join us tonight,” Jimmy Kimmel said by way of introducing President Barack Obama’s return visit to his show, while also dinging Donald Trump.
The two men talked Trump. A lot.
Kimmel wondered, for instance, if Obama ever laughed while watching Trump perform at a debate. “Most of the time,” Obama responded.
Kimmel also wondered if the commander-in-chief had seen the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which the GOP candidate boasted to Billy Bush, back in 2005, about being so famous he could grope women with impunity.
Obama acknowledged someone had brought it to his attention.
Kimmel wondered if Obama realized at the time how large that video would loom in the election cycle.
“Yes. Didn’t you?” Obama answered, surprised by the question. He noted that video would be a problem for a friend who worked in your office, ” and he’s not running for president.”
“Do you have dirtbag friends you haven’t been able to be in touch with the last eight years?” Kimmel pivoted.
“There are probably some guys who didn’t make vet,” Obama joked.
Later, Obama segued: “Look we joke about Donald Trump, but part of reason you see Michelle so passionate in this election, part of the season we got involved as much as we have, is not just because we think Hillary is going to be a great president. There is something….different about the way Trump has operated in the political sphere. “
“What we haven’ seen before is somebody questioning the integrity of elections and the will of the people. What we haven’t seen before is politics based on putting down, in very explicit terms, Muslim Americans who are patriots, or describing women not in terms of intellect and character but on a 1 to 10 score.”
“There is a certain responsibility and expectation in terms of how you behave and present yourself,” Obama said, making it clear he does not think Trump has done either.
Obama kicked off his visit reading the show’s second Presidential edition of Mean Tweets. Here too he poked fun at the reality star turned presidential candidate:
— Barack Obama is the Sharknado of presidents. Loud, stupid and over-hyped.
— Obama couldn’t negotiate getting a whopper without pickles.
— I just found out my daughter shares a birthday with Obama. PUKE!
— My mom bought a new conditioner and it sucks. It isn’t even conditioning my hair. I blame Obama.
— President Obama will go down as perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States! @realdonaldtrump.
(“Well @realdonaldtrump at least I will go down as a president,” Obama snarked.)
Asked if he’d considered a third term, Obama said, “If I were able to run for a third term, Michelle would divorce me, so it’s useful that I don’t have that choice to make.”
“I know you have to leave but can we keep her for another four years?” Kimmel countered, nostalgically.
Wrapping up the interview, Kimmel told Obama, sentimentally, “I want to say thank you to you for being our president.”
Obama called it the privilege of a lifetime but reminded the late-night star he will still be alive in three months and hoped Kimmel would invite him back to the show once he’s out of the White House.
“This is it,” Kimmel responded, explaining to Obama the facts of TV. “I’m saying goodbye. It was really nice knowing you.”
Last week, during his first live broadcast of Jimmy Kimmel Live to follow one of those presidential debates that tickled Obama’s funnybone, Kimmel announced POTUS would return visit to the show today – 15 days ahead of the election. Until tonight, Obama hasn’t visited Kimmel’s show since March 12, 2015, during which he read his first special presidential edition of Mean Tweets, which has generated more than 46M views:
Obama is making the late night rounds in his final months in office. Last week he taped a comedy bit for Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, in which he urged younger viewers to get out and vote.
