Last week, the president went to a fake talk show for what may be the most bizarre head-of-state interview ever.
The show is called “Between Two Ferns” and is hosted by comedian Zach Galifianakis, star of the “Hangover” movies.
It’s a cringe-humor show hosted by the site FunnyOrDie.com. As host, Galifianakis plays a character who’s dumb and very awkward. All of his guests are celebrities. When they get to the show, he openly mocks them in ways that are both hilarious and incredibly uncomfortable. He’s downright rude to his guests — he said to Justin Bieber, “You’ve had three hairstyles; what’s next for your career?” and then hit him with a belt. “Between Two Ferns” is semi-improvised though, so guests have plenty of opportunities to fight back. They usually call Galifianakis fat, with varying degrees of success.
It was kind of a shock when news broke that Barack Obama made an appearance on the show.
Seeing the president of the United States sitting with Zach Galifianakis was just as surreal as I thought it might be, and the verbal sparring that ensued was tremendous. Galifianakis asked him what it’s like to be the “last black president,” and Obama called him out, saying Bradley Cooper carried “The Hangover” movies. And then the plug happened: Galifianakis asked the president what websites he likes to go to, and Obama took the opportunity to talk about healthcare.gov.
It’s a pretty successful plug; in spite of Galifianakis’ joking, the president was able to provide a lot of information on the many ways to sign up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
The president said to Galifianakis’ face that he wouldn’t be on the show if he didn’t want to plug health care.
Actually, the whole show was set up as an advertisement for the Affordable Care Act: “Between Two Ferns’” producer contacted the White House months ago for an opportunity to help publicity. The deadline to sign up for 2014 — March 31 — is rapidly approaching, and numbers of signers are faltering.
The show is something that could only exist because of the 18- to 30-year-old male demographic, which goes nuts over alternative comedy like this. Conveniently, the Affordable Care Act targets young people in this demographic because they are one of the most commonly uninsured groups in America.
Whether the president brought shame to the office by appearing on “Between Two Ferns” is debatable; there is no solid “it-is” or “it-isn’t” answer. What is true is that going on that show was a great way to get more publicity for the Affordable Care Act. The mere fact that he went on the show guarantees the episode will be viral, solely because of the novelty. Add the fact that the show’s audience is also one of the Affordable Care Act’s target demographics, and what you have is a sneaky and brilliant marketing ploy.
Politicians and pundits alike have criticized the ploy. Bill O’Reilly took the position that Abraham Lincoln would not have done it, and he’s probably right. But Abraham Lincoln probably wouldn’t have blown up little kids in Yemen with sky robots either.
The show itself has also been criticized. Many people feel that using “Between Two Ferns” to promote government interests is a misuse of comedy. Comedy should be used to criticize and satirize authority, not advertise it.
That said, the number of uninsured Americans our age is pretty high. Regardless of your views on Obamacare or the ethics of humor, health insurance is a necessity in America.
[Alec Carver is a UF journalism freshman. His columns appear on Fridays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 3/14/2014 under the headline "Obama’s ‘Ferns’ visit clever, controversial"]
