Obama appearance gives Leno ratings boost

Posted: Friday, 20th March 2009 at 9:00pm by Paul

Barack Obama’s appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno last night has been much talked about today. Mr Obama made TV history – making it the first time that a serving US President has appeared as a guest on a late-night talk show.

The US President’s interview on the programme attracted a huge ratings boost for The Tonight Show – according to the ArtsBeat blog on The New York Times website, The Tonight Show “matched its highest rating in the last 11 years… based on the measure available Friday, from the country’s 56 largest cities, Mr. Obama’s visit with Jay Leno produced an 11.2 rating”. The interview on the show lasted much longer than most guest interviews – almost 30 minutes.

President Obama discussed the important subject of the economic downturn including what he thinks about the executives at the huge financial company AIG taking bonuses at these tough times. Obama said “who in their right mind, when your company is going bust, decides we’re going to be paying a whole bunch of bonuses to people?”.

The President also talked about the publicised Whitehouse dog, which he announced he was going to get for his family after he won the election last year – “they say if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog”.

Speaking about Washington, he said “it’s a little bit like American Idol, except everybody is Simon Cowell”, and when asked about the difficult economic times he stated “I welcome the challenge”.

BBC News – “Obama banters on Jay Leno’s show”
The New York Times – ArtsBeat blog – “Yes He Can (Boost Jay Leno’s Ratings)”
Bloomberg – “Obama Tells Leno He Was ‘Stunned’ by AIG Bonuses”

Watch the Barack Obama interview in full;

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