The Sense of Humor

In the U.S., they consider it essential that a president be able to laugh at himself.

Every year around this time for almost a century, the president of the United States has been the star invitee at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The commander-in-chief becomes humorist-in-chief for a day, no matter if the nation is at war or in a depressed economy. On this day, the most powerful man on Earth is obliged for a half hour to demonstrate that he is capable of laughing at himself, but also at his rivals. To see a serious fellow like Barack Obama mocking those who accuse him of not being born in the United States with images from the movie “The Lion King” on the screen as though they were home movies, or making fun of those who assert that he ate dog while living in Indonesia by asking, “What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? A pitbull is delicious.” This would be inconceivable in Europe. And not just now, when the public are in no mood for jokes and are throwing coffee on politicians.

But Americans see it in a different way. Humor is perceived as a modern form of communication, as has been demonstrated by its greatest masters being American. Vicente Verdú wrote in an essay entitled “El planeta americano” that an intellectual who wishes to influence should be witty in his essays, that a professor leading a class should have a joke ready for the beginning or ending of his lessons. The same goes for a politician: he has to be a clever guy, capable of joking even about his own defects. Barack Obama said in the Hilton hotel before 2,000 invitees to the correspondents’ dinner: “We gather during a historic anniversary. Last year at this time … we finally delivered justice to one of the world’s most notorious individuals.” And on the screen, bin Laden didn’t appear as everyone had expected, but rather millionaire Donald Trump, who raised doubts about the president’s Americanness.

Richard Nixon bombed at these dinners that bring together the cream of society and American movie stars. Jimmy Carter viewed it as an all but unbearable waste of time. On the other hand, Ronald Reagan enjoyed them in his role as an actor, as did George W. Bush in his frivolous capacity. In 2005, his wife Laura stepped onto the stage to tease her husband, who had hardly begun speaking: “Not that old joke — not again!” Mrs. Bush remarked that at the dinner’s late hour, her husband would usually be sound asleep, as would Vice President Cheney — “I’m a desperate housewife” — going to the point of saying, “George, if you really want to end tyranny in the world, you’re going to have to stay up later.”

The nineteenth-century American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that humor is a tie binding men together, and this is something present in American DNA. The matter is more complicated when they are joking around with the rest of the world.