Post-Presidency Pitch: How About A Late Night Political-Comedy Talk Show Called ‘Third Term With Barack Obama’?

During the last half of President Barack Obama’s second-term, the action among late night TV hosts has reached a fevered pace, with late night veterans turning their desks over to new hosts. These new hosts have become more committed to political jokes than ever before; only because there are now more late night hosts at one time on television than ever before during a major election.

After this year, Barack Obama will be giving up his current title as “president” — although that’s never stopped anyone from using it anyway; and so it would behoove him to consider a post-presidency career and join the same group of late night comedy hosts to run his own politically-driven late show and call it Third Term with Barack Obama.

The show’s name is just a working title, but it hints at the importance of having his presence continue after he leaves office, where he can still “campaign” for his side of the aisle.

Because right now, the political climate is perfect for the president to take his oval office to late night. Just look at some of the anti-Donald Trump ads circulating, according to The Week where the Republican nominee sits with David Letterman — who had the billionaire on as his guest at least once before he retired and handed over The Late Show to Stephen Colbert. Letterman is seen calling Trump out on on his show for selling items from his clothing label, because they’re made in China despite his boisterous declaration that he supports American made products.

Let’s also not forget about the time when the new Late Show host had Barack Obama do a segment on his previous show on Comedy Central called The Colbert Report, which is the best example and preview of what the president could do behind a late night show desk.

Notice in the video clip where he almost follows through with a imitation of Colbert’s eyebrow raise?

More evidence of the political environment that late night is committed to is with Seth Meyers, who changed his format from doing opening monologues, as every other late show host does, to going straight to the desk with a news format on Late Night.

Also, recently, President Barack Obama has been on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon where he’s done comedy bits, and while James Corden of The Late, Late Show has dipped his toe into the political scene on occasion, and Jimmy Kimmel too, a Third Term with Barack Obama would be a hilarious and still dignified contribution to the new energy that has been building up on the networks that people want to see.

As to whether President Barack Obama could be hilarious or not, other than his widely-televised late night appearances, he’s already proven he can deliver punch lines from jokes written by other joke writers, such as he has during his annual White House Correspondent dinners. Many are familiar with that time he targeted Donald Trump from the podium over the “birther” conspiracy, which is shown at 1:15 in a previous video.

Ironically enough, Seth Meyers brought the comedy to the dinner that evening as host, years before he would join the late night game. But here is the president, in his final routine, proving after eight years that he’s earned his comedic “chops.”

It should be mentioned that last year, the president was on another comedian’s podcast called WTF with Marc Maron, where he talked about his comedic influences such as Richard Pryor and Louis C.K.

And while those are intense comedians, perhaps the best argument as to why a post-presidency life for Barack Obama should be a late night gig is because there would be no one better qualified who could deliver regular jabs at the absurdity of politics than former-President Barack Obama from a late night desk.

In the mentioned interview he explains that the American people don’t follow the intricacies of — for example — the healthcare debate, because they’re too busy living their lives, and so when they hear the words “death panels,” appropriately they react negatively.

And while the current late night hosts are certainly speaking truth through their comedy, a Third Term with Barack Obama would be a powerful delivery system to keep those busy Americans laughing and well-informed.

[Featured Image by Susan Walsh/AP Photo]