Kevin Rudd was last night upstaged by an 18 inch plastic bum wiping stick he later said he would consider using in the right circumstances.
In an awkward, but mostly disaster-free appearance on Rove Live, the Prime Minister made it excruciatingly clear he was after some opinion poll love, and Rove happily obliged with the opening question about Utegate: “Dude, what’s goin’ on?”
But Mr Rudd’s segment on the show, which opened in spectacular fashion with an appearance by Bruno (aka Sacha Baron Cohen), was just - well - weird.
The PM bounced around energetically in his seat while trying to give a lecture that could have been titled: “Utegate for dummies”.
Granted, it was the same chair that 20 minutes earlier had contained Bruno’s bottom clad in an exposed G-string, in what was the funniest performance on Rove in years.
Mr Rudd also followed a segment about the “Comfort Wipe,” a stick designed for people who can’t reach their own arse with the toilet paper - it was much more entertaining than the Prime Minister.
At times he leaned on the host’s desk, his chin resting on clasped hands, looking intently into Rove’s eyes like he was hanging on for dear life.
Mr Rudd admitted that Utegate could damage his popularity, saying: “I’m sure in the opinion polls we’ll see some damage.” (Update: Clearly Rudd needed no such help in the polls, with Malcolm Turnbull waking up this morning to this.) He also acknowledged that the staffer responsible for booking him on the show on the same night as Bruno was in rehabilitation.
But the rest of the time the PM stuck pretty much to his usual formula, even launching in on a long tale about two Melbourne apprentices named Shane and Corey, which Rove had the good sense to kill off before the audience died of boredom.
It’s a strange thing that drives politicians who aren’t good at this kind of thing to put themselves through it. The potential for things to go wrong is so high you’ve got to wonder if the rewards are worth the risk.
In the US Barack Obama has had comedians eating out of his hand during a series of multiple TV appearances, but even he is now facing a backlash over his prime-time antics.
Self-confessed Obama acolyte, commentator Bill Maher caused a minor storm last week when he told the President: “you don’t have to be on television every week. You’re the President, not a re-run of Law and Order.”
He has a point. Even someone as smooth as Barack Obama starts to look a bit silly trying to outdo comedy professionals.
Kevin Rudd proved last night he can only raise a chuckle when we’re laughing at him, not with him. He should stick to what he’s good at.
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