‘Two Ferns’ star coins Obama nickname
A meal in the White House mess before taping the “Between Two Ferns” episode credited with boosting enrollment in ObamaCare gave comedian Zach Galifianakis the idea for a new nickname for President Obama.
“Before we went to interview the president, I ate in the White House with his staff — you know, young, six to eight of them. There’s a restaurant in the White House,” Galifianakis said during an appearance on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
{mosads}“You don’t have to pay, but there’s a dessert menu,” the comedian continued. “And on the dessert menu, there’s something called Chocolate Freedom.”
At this point, Stewart interjected, expressing disbelief that such a dish existed.
“Yeah, and I say to the staff, not trying to be funny, ‘You guys call the president that, right?’”
Galifianakis said he was worried he might get in trouble for the wisecrack, but that it was well received by the staff.
“You know what they said?” he continued. “You’ve got to ask him that!”
The Funny or Die clip taped following that meal was credited by the White House for increasing traffic to HealthCare.gov by almost 40 percent after its debut, and has been viewed online more than 22 million times. It also won an Emmy award for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program.
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