While President Barack Obama appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night and engaged in some serious conversation, the president was the butt of many jokes from late night comedians in the early months of 2013. According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, the president was the target of 288 monologue jokes by late night comedians during the first part of the year.
The Center tallies the amount of jokes made by late night comedians about politicians from both major political parties. While Democrats have been targeted by the comedians almost twice as much as Republicans this year, the numbers were quite different during the election year in which Republicans were hit with the majority of the jokes.
Some regard the joke gauge as a way to see how the people are viewing politicians. In fact, Politico argued that Obama’s appearance on the Tonight Show was pushback for the number of jokes that have been aimed at the president.
An article on the Center’s analysis of late night comedians jokes against the Democrats and Republicans is here and the CMPA detailed numbers are here.
If you missed the president’s appearance on the Tonight Show you can go to the video or find a transcript of the Leno-Obama interview here.