Michelle Obama does sketch comedy with Jimmy Fallon: 'Ew!'

First lady Michelle Obama joined the 'Tonight Show' host on a different kind of interview couch Thursday night – in the basement set of a spoof talk show called 'Ew!,' with Jimmy Fallon and Will Ferrell in drag.

|
Lloyd Bishop/NBC/AP
From left: Host Jimmy Fallon, actor Will Ferrell, first lady Michelle Obama during the 'Ew' skit on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014 during comedian Fallon's inaugural week as the new 'Tonight Show' host.

How do you get Americans to pay attention to a healthy-living initiative for kids four years after it’s launched?

Take it to New York City, and join Jimmy Fallon and Will Ferrell – both in drag as teenage girls – on a basement couch, a la “Wayne’s World,” and pull out the kale chips. That’s what first lady Michelle Obama did Thursday night on NBC’s “Tonight Show,” demonstrating her comedy chops in a sketch called “Ew!”

Mrs. Obama played herself, and that meant promoting fitness, saying “ew” to jelly doughnuts, and getting up off the couch for an “ ‘Ew’ dance party.” It wasn’t “The Evolution of Mom Dancing” – perhaps the most eye-popping TV performance ever by a first lady – but Mrs. Obama showed, once again, that she can move.

And that was the point. Her Let’s Move! campaign, four years old this month, is Mrs. Obama’s main initiative as first lady, and Fallon has become a regular stop on her circuit. Two years ago, she competed with the comedian in feats of strength at the White House – push-ups, dodgeball, a potato sack race – for the second anniversary of “Let’s Move!," back when he was host of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” Last February, it was mom dancing.

This year, the fourth anniversary coincided with Fallon’s debut as host of “The Tonight Show,” a week packed with A-list guests. After the “Ew!” sketch, she joined Fallon on the regular interview couch for some conversation about her girls, who we’re guessing may have taught her a bit about things that are “ew.”

Now 15 and 12, Malia and Sasha Obama aren’t as into hanging out with their parents as they used to be.

“They want nothing to do with us,” the first lady said. “I am so serious.”

Mrs. Obama also warned the people of Washington, D.C., that Malia is getting close to one of the dreaded (to parents) milestones of adolescence: learning to drive.

After the Obamas leave Washington in a few years, the girls “have got to be able to function as normal people, and driving is a part of that,” she said. “Ladies and gentlemen of D.C., watch out!”

Mrs. Obama also made a push for enrollment in health insurance, and came up with a new term for “young invincibles,” the 20-somethings who don’t think they need coverage: “knuckleheads.”

“They’re the ones cooking for the first time and slicing their fingers,” she said. And “dancing on the barstools.”

While in New York, Mrs. Obama promoted another of her healthy-living initiatives, the Drink Up campaign, which encourages drinking water. She visited the New Museum in Manhattan, which has an exhibit of street art that encourages people to drink more water. She also appeared at a private fundraiser, reportedly at the home of Obama “bundler” Maneesh Goyal.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Michelle Obama does sketch comedy with Jimmy Fallon: 'Ew!'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Decoder/2014/0221/Michelle-Obama-does-sketch-comedy-with-Jimmy-Fallon-Ew
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe