Hillary Clinton, who generally comes off way as more prepared and well-spoken than Barack Obama in their televised debates, has, naturally, received quite a bit of flack for her occasional attempts to crack jokes. These jokes—"change you can Xerox" and "no one asks me if I want a pillow"—are mostly harmless, but her delivery is terrible. Despite this, her family and friends insist she is actually a funny person. And they're right. In the clip above, she is very funny. The only problem is that she's also sarcastic, in the real sense of the word, and not the Michelle Obama sense of the word. That is maybe the worst possible way to differentiate yourself from Barack Obama, who inspires sarcastic people with his earnestness. We, with help from Jon Stewart and Ellen DeGeneres, shall explain why.

All the parts of the internet that care about such matters have been speculating as to what Saturday Night Live will do about Barack Obama. They don't really have anyone qualified to impersonate him right now, especially as blackface is more or less out of style. A couple sites have reported rumors that sketch comedian and comedy writer (and thin black man) Donald Glover will join the cast, possibly even this weekend, in order to ensure that the Democratic hopeful will be properly parodied. Comedy Central's Insider blog has the story and the Chicago Sun-Times thinks it's a done deal. But! We went to school with Donald! He, like us, was in NYU's Dramatic Writing program. So we checked Facebook and learned, direct from Donald, that all of this speculation is unfounded. Donald auditioned, but hasn't been asked to join the cast. His wall message (of hope) is attached, click to enlarge.

This weekend, the Times TV section broke the news: "Sidelined by the Strike, Comedy Goes Online." The paper then pointed to several good comedy sites that, during the writers' strike, have continued to publish the same stream of comedy that they published before the strike, except now with Fred Armisen. The SNL star surely bolsters public opinion of online comedy by telling the paper it's "kind-of comedy" (so what did he think SNL was?). Armisen also shares the burden of keeping track of all the online entertainment, after being overloaded with fifteen e-mails. But to be fair, there are also quotes from web-based comedians that explain real benefits of the strike for original web comedy.

White House Correspondents' Association head Ann Compton announced today that the upcoming WHCA dinner will be headlined by late-night funnyman Craig Ferguson. Ferguson has the benefit of being totally inoffensive and theoretically funny, unlike former hosts Stephen Colbert and Rich Little, respectively. No one is sure what to expect, though, as no one has ever watched his program. Ferguson became a citizen just last week, and as his first official act as an American, he will act as obsequious court jester to a room full of war criminals feted as heroes, press members groveling before the ostensible targets of their muckraking, and Laura Bush's face's touching if mildly unsettling tribute to the late Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. (After the jump, Ferguson takes his citizenship test.) [WHCA]

Congratulations to the Hamptons Independent for publishing the single most offensive newspaper column ever. In "satirizing" the Obama/Clinton feud, the offending column manage to insult and degrade women, blacks, and every literate person on Earth in equal measure. Oh, it was written by the editor. Under the pseudonym "YoMama Bin Barack." That doesn't even make sense. Anyway—black people speak pidgin english, and many of them are in jail. "White women" enjoy being "bitch slapped." Too bad Bloomberg's not in the race, the only thing the column's really missing is blood libel. [Plum]

Above, a makeshift tribute to both the late Heath Ledger and the almighty dollar, found at a Best Buy in San Diego. It's the tip of the bad taste iceberg. Join us on a trip through the void where we once pretended to store the concept of our shared humanity, won't you?

Both of the infomercial spoofs on the internet after the jump, we found on the internet. The one on with Gabe and Max in it is from sometimes Gawker guy who I see sometimes at La Esquina Gabe DelaHaye and comedian Max Silvestri. We wrote about it here in October. The other clip is from an Adult Swim television duo named Tim and Eric. (Skip through Jeff Goldblum making an ass out of himself.) It premieres on their show January 29th, 2008. Ah, the internet, where plagiarism is just a mouse click away. [Beahumanbeing]

"Funny or Die", the funny web video site that has Will Ferrell and Adam McKay but no traffic or "buzz", got another $15 million from their venture capital benefactors at Sequoia (and unnamed others). There are still absolutely no reports of anyone on the internet having watched any video from that site besides the one where the little girl is mean to Will Ferrell. [PaidContent]

Have you been wondering what Carrie Brownstein is up to now that Sleater Kinney has disbanded? We had forgotten to! Anyway, it turns out that she randomly but wonderfully has a sketch comedy website with Fred Armisen now. The one about a feminist bookstore deciding what can and cannot go on the bulletin board is particularly amazing. "My problem with this one is, when I see this drumhead, I see a woman's face. A woman's face on Super Bowl Sunday."

NICK DOUGLAS — There are two ways to do internet video. Either let everyone throw up whatever they want and hope the good stuff sticks, or demand a little quality. Of course, by quality I don't mean your videos won't still be about swearing babies and fart jokes, but they'll be funny babies and farts. The following sites all have real comedy (not, like, guys lip-synching to the Backstreet Boys) and let anyone send in material. They all also have some more "official" material. (Weirdly, they all have black backgrounds.) And they all prove that "user generated" doesn't mean "suck."

NICK DOUGLAS — Some of them you recognize, some of them you don't. Here are the twelve funniest people on the Internet today, including Ze Frank, Brad Neely, Worker #3116, and that crazy lady at Violent Acres.

Apparently, working as a bartender at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater isn't always so funny. Margot Leitman reports:

Yesterday, pursuant to a blind item on the Apiary, we asked for your guesses as to what comedian had been "BANNED from performing on one of NYC's premiere stages" due to his proclivity for "ramrodding peanut butter up his pooper and for graphically demonstrating how to diddle a baby." Your responses after the jump.

• Dumbo continues to celebrate itself via a four-day dance extravanganza featuring a whole lot of dance companies, troupes and choreographers. Can't afford tonight's $100-per-person gala? Pose as a bar attendant. [NY Mag]
  

On Friday night, singer/songwriter John Mayer abandoned his lonely-chick rock persona for a moment and tried his hand at stand-up comedy. The singer went on as a special guest at the Comedy Cellar, where one blogger noted that he seemed "drunk or stoned, maybe both." Excellent! Some lessons learned from Mayer on the mic:

Who's calling for an end to genital cutting? We don't know. Third base! (Yuk yuk yuk.)

The amazing things is, this does not appear to be a joke:

"So a priest, a rabbi, and an ayatollah walk into a bar..."

• We're not sure who to pity more: Premiere magazine for paying Harvard's Lampoon writers to make fun of their magazine, or the writers for actually taking the cash. Those kids have a bright future of working at upcoming Jimmy Kimmel roasts. [Lampoon]
• Oh, David Beckham. Playing footsies with some other woman, in public, while your wife sits next to you? Bold and daring. And stupid. That too. [BWE]
• Oh, the thrill of canceling your Times subscription. [Amy's NY Notebook]
• How to be fat and fabulous? Oversized Prada sunglasses. That's why they're so damn popular — not because of some Olsen twin. [Eurotrash]
• On the grandiose, brass balls of Graydon Carter. [FishbowlNY]
• And finally, a special congrats to speakeasy La Esquina, which took only 44 days to hit media saturation. Things should be tolerable around there in approximately 2 months, at which point we suggest you stop by. [Eater]