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  Big transition coming: a president who's hard to make fun of
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Last EditedArmyDem  Jan 13, 2009 09:50pm
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News DateWednesday, January 14, 2009 03:50:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionBy James H. Burnett | Miami Herald

Writers for late-night television shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, have lamented recently that they would love to bust President-elect Barack Obama's chops more. But fear of a politically correct backlash and a lack of major stumbles to date on Obama's part make him a tough topic.

Stand-up comedians, though, say Obama is fair game.

''Those TV writers have to worry about ratings. They don't like boos or groans from the audience. We thrive off of it,'' said Lisa Lampanelli, a comic famous for her no-topic-is-off-limits policy, and her obsession with black men.

''I'm not scared to make fun of anything,'' said Lampanelli, who is scheduled to perform at the South Beach Comedy Festival in two weeks. "And I don't think any comic should be. The fact is Barack Obama is never going to invite me to the Kennedy Center Honors, so what do I have to lose? In the future, he's going to make a big mistake. And when he does, the fodder on him will be easier.

"But let's be bluntly honest: We'll never have the material to go after him as hard as we did Bush, because people get made fun of over how they talk as much as how they look. . . . It's been much easier to pick on his speech. It's not political -- not for us comics, anyway.''

In her first one-hour HBO special, Long Live the Queen, which premiers Jan. 31, Lampanelli calls Obama just white enough to do a good job and show up (to work) on time.

''It's a joke,'' Lampanelli said. "It's what we do. We make fun of people, and we exploit stereotypes. I've been brutal toward Sarah Palin and all the hype about her good looks. I said in the regular world she's not hot. She's a two when you put her next to even Pam Anderson.

"In the world of politics? She's a 10. But look, she's up against the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt. If we don't give Obama the treatment, too, then . . . well, we have to. It's called equality!''
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