Comedian Mocks Obama crowd laughs, Mocks GOP pulled offstage

[Crossroads Inc.]

In a perfect example of how thin skinned the Far Right is from yahoo news

COMMENTARY | Comedian and Obama impersonator Reggie Brown seemed to only be trying to give the political parties equal time while doing his routine at the Republican Leadership Conference (RLC) in New Orleans over the weekend. He had the crowd roaring with laughter at his off-color Obama jokes. However, the roar turned to outraged booing when he started telling jokes about the 2012 Republican presidential contenders.

Hired for his spot-on impersonation of President Barack Obama, Reggie Brown was sure to be a hit at the RLC. And he was -- at first. According to the New York Daily News, Brown strode onto the stage with "Born in the USA" playing in the background, a slap at the birther movement controversy that had given the President such a difficult time until he petitioned the state of Hawaii to release the long form of his certificate of live birth, thus discrediting the conspiracy theorists that have claimed that he was born in Kenya or somewhere else outside the United States.

Brown told the crowd that his favorite month was February because of Black History Month. He admitted that he only celebrated half the month (a dig at Obama's mixed heritage -- Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was, of course, white).
The comedian also talked about the rapid aging process presidents seemed to go through while in the White House. He then produced a "time-lapse" photo of what Obama and his wife, Michele, would look like in the future. The picture was a still shot of comedian Redd Foxx and actress Lawanda Page, the famous feuding in-laws from TV's "Sanford and Son."

The crowd of Republicans erupted with laughter.

But then Brown switched to poking fun at the Republicans running for office. He went after former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and his recent staff resignation incident, saying that his advisors were "dropping faster than Anthony Weiner's pants in an AOL chatroom."

He then nailed Mitt Romney in a polygamy joke and said the reason former Minnesota governor wasn't at the Conference was because he was "getting his foot surgically removed from his mouth," a direct jab at Pawlenty's hedging over his own coined term "Obamneycare" at last week's New Hampshire Republican Presidential Debate. Brown said placatingly, "Don't worry: it's covered under Obamneycare. Along with spinal transplants."

The booing had begun well before Brown took aim at Rep. Michele Bachmann. He didn't get through his first line before his microphone went dead and music began to play to drown him out.
It appears that the humor found at the expense of the President was preferable to that found in conjunction with the gathering's fellow Republicans. Brown quickly learned that he wasn't performing at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

The incident strangely reflected the mood of the Republican conference, where the speakers repeatedly went after the President and his policies with angry and inflammatory remarks. Newt Gingrich even called the President a "national secular European socialist" and the "opposite of freedom." Sticking to red meat political topics, the speakers ignored the entreaties of two of their number from earlier in the conference. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and Mississippi governor Haley Barbour both told the gathering that they should not focus everything on Obama, but use a broader strategy to win in 2012.

It is as yet uncertain what Reggie Brown's plans hold for the future (except that he won't be doing any more Republican functions), but it is very likely that he will soon appear on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report," not to mention possibly being tapped to do a few Democratic conferences. Because somebody has to assuage the public's curiosity about how that Michele Bachmann joke ends.

Ladies and gentlemen, the GOP's respect for "Freespeech" in action! It's ok to mock, lambast and make false assertions against a President if you don't like him... But if you DARE Speak against the right and it's out on your ass! When you have the GOP folks going on about how Obama is "against freedom" and yet they always seem ot be the ones curtailing peoples rights.

[Akhlut]

Uh, it's a Republican conference, of course they're not going to be too thrilled about someone making fun of their own; this isnt' a Comedy Central Roast or a bipartisan dinner or a comedy club, but an explicily partisan conference for a political party. Yes, Jindal and Barbour are correct that the GOP needs a much broader strategy than "Obama bad!" for their campaigns and Newt and his ilk are fools for not heeding them, but that's really irrelevant to the title of the thread.

Basically, I wouldn't expect jokes like this to fly too well at any similar conference, political or not. Could they stand to laugh at themselves a bit? Yeah, but they aren't obligated to, either, and it isn't some huge failing on the GOP's part to not let a comedian tear on their potential candidates.

Also: it seems to me that the couple of jokes about Obama mentioned aren't particularly offensive.

[wautd]

Here's the vid. Pulling of the stage around 18th minute

[Crossroads Inc.]

Uh, it's a Republican conference, of course they're not going to be too thrilled about someone making fun of their own; this isnt' a Comedy Central Roast or a bipartisan dinner or a comedy club, but an explicily partisan conference for a political party. Yes, Jindal and Barbour are correct that the GOP needs a much broader strategy than "Obama bad!" for their campaigns and Newt and his ilk are fools for not heeding them, but that's really irrelevant to the title of the thread.

Basically, I wouldn't expect jokes like this to fly too well at any similar conference, political or not. Could they stand to laugh at themselves a bit? Yeah, but they aren't obligated to, either, and it isn't some huge failing on the GOP's part to not let a comedian tear on their potential candidates.

Also: it seems to me that the couple of jokes about Obama mentioned aren't particularly offensive.

Most of the jokes against Obama weren't bad at all, a couple of them had me chuckling. But lets be honest, if you invite a Comedian to a function, everyone is fair game. there are plenty of events with the Left were after mocking Republicans, a Comedian will take potshots at Democrats in the audience. It is considered part of the package. Show me a democratic function where someone starts ripping on the Democrats in the audience and is pulled off stage, and I'll change my tune,.

[Executor32]

Here's the embedded vid from Youtube, for those who don't trust those filthy Belgians :



He does a fairly decent impersonation, though some of his jokes are kind of lame. Also, I heard booing even earlier than his digs at the Republican candidates, namely when he was showing the aging caused by the presidency, with Washington today looking like Barbara Bush. Just goes to show that any slight against Republicans, no matter how slight, is offensive to these people.

[Temjin]

As much as I'd love to join the "Hate the Republicans" bandwagon here... I can't.

In the final three minutes of that video, the guy did maybe one joke where he got a laugh. And the joke was directed at Trump. Due to that reason alone, it was okay to cut short his act. He was failing badly at that point. At any professional comedy club, the same would have happened if the comedian started to fail getting laughs for three or four minutes straight.

As for the audience reaction, what did you expect? It was a "Republican Leadership Conferrence." Not a roast. He should have known his audience wouldn't have reacted well to the burns he was giving the republican candidates, considering the crowd was there to support them.

I would expect no different a reaction at a Democratic convention.

[Temjin]

Sorry for the double post here, but I've been thinking about this, and I figure the Republicans really are unfairly getting the blame here.

I find it highly unlikely that Reggie Brown's entire act wouldn't have been vetted before the actual event, especially with the Powerpoint slides set up before hand. Which would have meant *GASP* that they were originally going to allow his burns against the candidates!

From the video, they let the first few in without a problem. In fact, they let him insult the candidates for at least three minutes straight. It was only when the audience weren't buying it at all that they pulled him off stage. After all, what good is a comedian that isn't getting any laughs?

The only people to blame here are the audience. Turns out they had less of a sense of humor than the people running the conference thought.

[Simon_Jester]

Arguably, this says about as much as the conference planners themselves lacking a sense of humor would.

[wautd]

those filthy Belgians :

Kill them all!

[SirNitram]

This guy really sucks. Can we please get a better Obama impersonator for the Republicans? This guy is patently unfunny, so I don't have a problem with him getting yanked.

Off-topic: Is this the same Obama impersonator Fox News had for a 'debate' with a guy who was excluded from the last President Debate?

[Mr. Coffee]

This guy really sucks. Can we please get a better Obama impersonator for the Republicans? This guy is patently unfunny, so I don't have a problem with him getting yanked.

I got a better idea. Can we please all just agree that the only way the GOP is capable of being funny is when they do things that make us laugh atthem and not with them? Fuck, Dubbya was a funnier then this current pack of douchemongers, and not a damned one of them hold a candle to the comedy duo that was Reagan and H.W. Bush (those two were like the Abbott and Costello of Conservative Values). The Republicans haven't been funny since the 80s. Hell, SNL is having problems trying to make fun of them as any parody they do these days comes off just illustrates Poe's Law.

[SpaceMarine93]

Wow, I can practically smell the Fascism reeking from the Republicans in this incident. Not surprising they did what they did.

[Knife]

Wow, I can practically smell the Fascism reeking from the Republicans in this incident. Not surprising they did what they did.

LoL of all the things to deride the GOP for, this isn't one of them.

[Phantasee]

Wow, I can practically smell the Fascism reeking from the Republicans in this incident. Not surprising they did what they did.

How old are you?

[CaptainChewbacca]

Wow, I can practically smell the Fascism reeking from the Republicans in this incident. Not surprising they did what they did.

Seriously? The only difference between this and Comedy Central's 'Thats my Bush!' is that this guy wasn't funny.

Please, point out the specific hallmarks of fascism in the act, as opposed to simply poor taste, judgement, or idiocy.

[LaCroix]

I'd have pulled him as well. He got a good first 5 min entry run, but then he talked himself into a corner. By 14:00, I started skipping forward to find the point he got pulled. Bad puns = pulled comedian... (I'd have given them bonus points if they'd done it with the shepherd's stick to the neck, though.)

[Illuminatus Primus]

[Yawn] A bunch of white Republicans got sad the minstrel show they paid good money for ended early. Is this really a surprise?

[Drooling Iguana]

This guy really sucks. Can we please get a better Obama impersonator for the Republicans? This guy is patently unfunny, so I don't have a problem with him getting yanked.

Why don't they just use the Republican Obama impersonator that's been sitting in the Oval Office for the past two and a half years?

[CaptJodan]

It should be noted that Bill Maher had Reggie Brown on to finish the bit he was going to do (presumably) that night on Real Time.

[Luke Skywalker]

As expected, they love to focus on ignorant and superficial insults and remarks. It may be comedy, but they clearly intended it to be legitimate.

[Patrick Degan]

Wow, I can practically smell the Fascism reeking from the Republicans in this incident. Not surprising they did what they did.

Seriously? The only difference between this and Comedy Central's 'Thats my Bush!' is that this guy wasn't funny.

Considering that guy wasn't funny either, that's not much of a difference.

But "reeking fascism"? I have to agree it's a stretch to see that. No, it's just an example of how Republicans have zero sense of humour about themselves, which isn't at all surprising.