President Joe Biden on Monday made his latest late-night TV appearance, surprising audiences during the 10th-anniversary episode of “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
Biden, who’s also gone on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “The Daily Show” during his presidency, was a guest on the first episode of Seth Meyers’ talk show a decade ago when he was vice president.
He appeared alongside actor and comedian Amy Poehler, who was also on the first episode of Meyers’ show. Before Biden took the stage, Meyers joked to Poehler that since Biden has a “much bigger job now,” Meyers couldn’t book him for the show, to which Poehler quipped that she could.
Biden then walked out from the curtains to cheers from the audience and a warm greeting from Meyers and Poehler.
“Welcome back, Mr. President,” Meyers said.
“It’s good to be back — why haven’t you invited me earlier?” Biden responded, receiving a laugh.
Poehler and Biden have also spent time together on “Parks and Recreation.” In the political sitcom, Poehler’s character, Leslie Knope, eventually meets then-Vice President Biden after years of proclaiming her love for him.
In “Parks and Recreation,” Poehler’s overzealous public servant Knope describes her ideal man as having “the brains of George Clooney and the body of Joe Biden,” declares Biden the first and only name on her “celebrity sex list,” and stitched a portrait of his face into a “unity quilt” intended to merge her family with that of her husband, Ben Wyatt (played by Adam Scott).
Knope’s dreams come true when Wyatt arranges a short meeting with Biden — who appeared twice in cameos on the sitcom — as a wedding present.
Biden’s late-night appearances continue a tradition begun by then-President Barack Obama, Deadline noted, who was the first sitting president to appear in-studio for a TV appearance on a late-night show when he appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” The laid-back appearances, which Donald Trump skipped during his tenure, give audiences a more candid view of the politicians than a Sunday news program or press conference offers.
During his appearance with Meyers, Biden, 81, addressed the elephant in the room — criticism about his age.
“Take a look at the other guy, he’s about as old as I am,” said Biden, referring to Trump, 77.
“It’s about how old your ideas are. Look, I mean, this is a guy who wants to take us back,” Biden added. “He wants to take us back on Roe v. Wade.”
Monday’s show isn’t the first time this week Biden’s charm and virility have made headlines, with an excerpt from the yet-to-be-released book by The New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers featuring a few paragraphs about the 81-year-old’s sex life with First Lady Jill Biden.
In “American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, From Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden,” which is set to debut Tuesday, Rogers writes that Joe Biden has “joked to aides that ‘good sex’ is the key to a lasting and happy marriage, much to his wife’s chagrin.”
The displays of the president as a heartthrob are in stark contrast to recent attacks from his critics and worries from his supporters that Biden’s advanced age may make him unfit to hold the office of president for a second term.
