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When President Barack Obama appeared on Thursday’s episode of “The View,” he touched upon a variety of serious subjects: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the country’s unemployment problem and our recovering auto industry.
But he also engaged in a lightning round of pop-culture queries from host Joy Behar: Does he know Lindsay Lohan is in jail? Yes. Does Mel Gibson need anger management? The president sidestepped that, saying he hadn’t seen a Gibson movie in a while.
And then this: “Should Snooki run for mayor?” The president replied, “I gotta admit, I don’t know who Snooki is.”
While many were relieved that Obama was blissfully unaware of one of “Jersey Shore’s” resident rabble-rousers, he has at least heard of her because he name-dropped her in a speech last spring.
At the May 1 White House Correspondents dinner, the president made a reference to her while discussing a subject near and dear to her heart — tanning.
“This next provision (in the health care bill) is called the ‘Jersey Shore’-up,” he said. “It reads, ‘The following individuals shall be excluded from the indoor tanning tax within this bill: Snooki, JWOWW, The Situation and House minority leader John Boehner.’ ”
Who is Don Draper?
“Who is Don Draper?” were among the first words uttered in the opening of the fourth season premiere of "Mad Men" last Sunday. Jon Hamm, the actor who plays Draper, told
Parade his character is actually something like his own father, and he takes cues from his father’s “smoking, drinking and hard-living ways.”
Unfortunately, Hamm wasn’t able to spend much time with his parents. Both died by the time he was 20, but he used the experience to learn about life. “Losing both parents at a young age gave me a sense that you can't really control life — so you'd better live it while it's here,” he told the magazine in this Sunday’s issue. “I stopped believing in a storybook existence a long time ago. All you can do is push in a direction and see what comes of it.”
When it comes to starting a family of his own, he’s in no rush. Though he’s been with his girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt, who wrote the indie flick “Kissing Jessica Stein,” for more than 10 years, they’re in no rush to get married or have children. “I like kids but I also like the option to close the door. Becoming a parent is a whole other life, and it doesn't stop,” he said.
Weekend box office
This weekend the box office is going to be a busy one. Steve Carell and Paul Rudd headline “Dinner With Schmucks,” which opens in more than 2,500 theaters. It’s got a crowd-friendly PG-13 rating, but so does “Charlie St. Cloud,” which stars dreamy “High School Musical” alum Zac Efron.
The two will have near-$20 million weekends, but I don’t think it will top “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.” It’s rated G, is in 3-D, and its predecessor, “Cats & Dogs,” was a surprise hit. I think it could go so far as to knock “Inception” off the No. 1 spot.
Courtney Hazlett delivers the Scoop Monday through Friday on today.msnbc.com. Follow Scoop on Twitter @courtneyatmsnbc.
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