President Obama goes for a drive with Jerry Seinfeld
President Obama headlined Wednesday night's season premiere of Jerry Seinfeld's online series, "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," taped earlier in December at the White House.
Usually Seinfeld only invites other comedians to join him on the show, but he said the president has delivered just enough funny lines to qualify, reports CBS News correspondent Chip Reid.
If you were expecting a conversation percolating with domestic and foreign policy, that's just not Jerry Seinfeld's brand -- not that there's anything wrong with that.
"Are these washed?" Seinfeld asked the president, taking a bite of an apple from the Oval Office coffee table.
"C'mon, let's go," Mr. Obama said, chuckling. "Let's go get some coffee."
In the car ride, Mr. Obama told Seinfeld, "I do really well with the zero to 8 demographic."
"Oh, really?" Seinfeld said.
"Yeah, they love me. ...Partly I think because my ears are big, so I look a little like a cartoon character, and then little kids love saying my name," Mr. Obama said.
"Right, that's funny," Seinfeld said.
"But it's all one big name. It's Barackobama," the president said.
Seinfeld wasn't the only one with an American muscle car.
"I could call a nuclear submarine right here from this. I bet you don't have that," Mr. Obama said, as they sat in his presidential state car.
"I don't have that," Seinfeld conceded, laughing.
"Yeah, it's a cool feature," he said.
A leader of the comedy world strolled the White House grounds with the leader of the free world -- and like the coffee, the conversation flowed.
"How far can you wander around up there, in your underwear, how far can you get before there's people and it's not cool?" Seinfeld asked.
"It's not cool, generally, wandering around in my underwear," Mr. Obama said.
The 61-year-old comedian was able to pull back the curtain on the 44th commander in chief, with a surprisingly candid conversation.
"How many world leaders do you think are just completely out of their mind?" Seinfeld asked.
"A pretty sizeable percentage," Mr. Obama said, smiling.
At one point, Mr. Obama observed, "You know, you've made like a ridiculous amount of money."
"So much more than you, and yet, how do I seem to you? Do I seem spoiled, out of touch?" Seinfeld asked.
"Well, I don't know."
"You have a pretty good instinct for people," Seinfeld said.
"Right now you seem like a completely normal guy."
"But I'm putting on an act, like everyone else does for you," Seinfeld responded.
"That's my point," Mr. Obama said.
And when you're at the president's house, it's only polite to let him drive.
"I like the hand hanging over the wheel," Seinfeld said, laughing.
The car was a classic 1963 Corvette Stingray -- quite a treat for a president who rarely gets to drive anything other than a golf cart.
The Stingray also had a bumper sticker that said "My other car is a 5 ton bulletproof limousine."
"If you're driving a 'vette, you gotta be doing it that way. You can't be doing the 12-and-2 thing. That's not cool. C'mon man," the president said.
In general, when the president does offbeat TV or web shows like this or "Between Two Ferns," he squeezes in a plug for his health care law, but as the conversation came to a close, it hadn't come up.
"The only problem is I didn't work in Obamacare," Mr. Obama told Seinfeld. "Usually the only reason I do these things is because I'm promoting healthcare."
"But if you want, go ahead," Seinfeld said.
"I mean, if you don't want to sully your show--"
"I don't mind. I really don't mind," Seinfeld said.
"It would be the interest of getting people with no healthcare signing up so that, heaven forbid, something happens to 'em -"
"It's a great thing. Please try Obamacare today," Seinfeld said, turning to the camera, as Mr. Obama laughed.