That was the iconic moment that former president bill clinton, then a candidate, played the saxophone on the arsenio hall show. there has been a long history of candidates and presidents appearing on late night tv beginning with jfk on the jack par show in 1960 and today biden will appear on jimmy kimmel live for his first in-studio late night interview as president. joining us to talk about it is bill carter. bill, i wonder what you think about this appearance, what he's hoping to achieve, especially considering the timing with his approval rating being low. >> well, clearly this is an appearance meant to, you know, give him a forum where he can be relaxed and maybe have some laughs and joke around, and, you know, it will be a positive thing for him. i think it's always been that way with late night when you are a candidate, you feel like you have to do it for exposure. it's rarely done when you are in office. i mean, obama was the first president in office ever to appear on late night shows because it looks more like you're not campaigning at this point, you're just trying to stoke your image. obama was really good at it and the late night people really wanted him. i think biden can use a little bit of a bit of exposure that may not be too challenging for him, although i would expect that jimmy kimmel who is a -- certainly a guy he expects to be sympathetic, will probably, you know, find some questions to ask him that are serious questions because that's expected of him. >> so, bill, i had to go back and fact check it because we've become so used to seeing candidates on these late night shows, but obama was the first sitting president to do it. >> correct. >> now it feels like it might be a more regular thing. >> well, it certainly was not a regular thing with president obama's successor. did he not make appearances on late night. the only thing he did with late night was attack it and go after the hosts for making fun of him.
But let's face it, that's part of the gig anyway, you're going to get made fun of if you are a president and trump went after these guys like they were committing trees son, basically, but accused them of that in public speeches. obama did it many times. he made the rounds and he was a coveted guest. in this case biden has not really done that and i think his advisers have been looking for ways to get him out there and to have him be more public and this is certainly a way to do it. and he has an invitation i'm sure, in fact, i know from speaking with jimmy kimmel myself last night that he had an open invitation and happened to be going to l.a. and so they made a quick connection. it was not some let's get a strategy together kind of thing, he was just going to be there and there was no back story to t he just decided to be booked because kimmel had an open invitation for him. >> trump felt very mistreated, i think we can agree his hair was very mistreated as we just saw in that clip. let's talk, though, about this long succession of presidential candidates who have appeared in late night programming starting with jfk back in 1960. >> well, i would like to give a welcome tonight to the senator from massachusetts mr. john kennedy. >> would it be rude of me if i called you john? >> that would be fine. >> i run for the presidency for the same reason i ran for the house, because this is the place where action is going to take place, affecting the lives of our people and every people in the next four or eight years. >> jfk was, bill, a president who really understood the impact of television, but he's not the last. and there is a lesson to be learned for presidents including biden. >> exactly. kennedy was a master of television, let's face it, he was young, energetic, he looked great on tv, it was obviously a moof for him to make, but even when he made that it was really sort of dicey like is this a good idea to go on an entertainment show? because clearly if you can do it and do it well it's very advantageous and makes people -- humanizes you, that's the whole idea of it. you're more yourself than just your political persona. >> but there are some risks also. i seem to remember when i was covering george w. bush in 2000 when he was a candidate, he had a tough go of it when he went on letterman. i think we have a clip of that. let's play that. >> yeah. >> when that happened i said to myself, this is the -- this is the only honest moment of the campaign when you called that buy an ass. and why not? now, did you ever feel the need to apologize to him for saying that? >> not really. >> actually, that was a funny moment there. that whole interview was sort of -- you were on the edge of your seat going this is not going great, bill. >> yeah, well, that's the thing, i mean, you are playing a little bit with fire because the hosts are much more adept at making fun than you are and if you want to joust with a late night host you better be really, really careful because they're very, very good at it. what bush did there was effective for him because, again t made people think he is a regular guy, this is a regular guy laughing at himself, laugh at yourself, that is absolutely essential. >> there are risks, there are benefits, you have to sort of make that calculation. bill carter, always great to have you. thank you. >> great to be with you guys. the biden administration reaching out to north korea but getting the cold shoulder, raising concerns that kim jong-un may be preparing for a nuclear test. and doug. ♪ harp plays ♪ only two things are forever: love and liberty mutual customomizing your car insurance, so you only pay for what you n need.
