Jay Leno Rips Biden's Debate Performance: 'Hope and Change' to 'Smirk and Giggle

Jay Leno spent several minutes ripping Joe Biden's debate performance on his show Friday night, mocking everything from the vice president's teeth, to his habit of interrupting Paul Ryan while simultaneously calling him "my friend."

He began: "Watching TV last night, I see this stupid infomercial for Crest white strips.  Have you seen this?  It goes on for like an hour and a half with this guy just smiling-- then I realize it's Joe Biden. I'm watching the debate..."

As the crowd laughed, Leno said the Obama campaign has clearly changed its platform to "Hope and Change" to "Smirk and Giggle."

He then commended the moderator, Martha Raddatz, for "[cutting] Joe off after that third scotch and soda," playing a fake clip of the woman explaining the rules.

A professional voice explained: "Every time Mr. Ryan speaks, Vice President Biden will have ten seconds to interrupt, and when not interrupting, he will smirk."

Here is the video, via MRC-TV:

Though the comedian made a few jokes at the expense of Paul Ryan and Sarah Palin, it was overwhelmingly critical of Biden.

Leno continued in his monologue, joking about Biden's frequent use of the words "malarkey" and "my friend":

And we also, we learned a lot about Joe Biden's policies last night.  As you know, he has come out very, very strongly against malarkey... And believe me, the pro-malarkey people are not happy.  Who's he running with, Calvin Coolidge?  Malarkey?

Actually, there were a couple of really funny jokes during the debate, like when Ryan referred to the Saudis as our allies-- kills me.  And the way Biden kept referring to Ryan as "my friend."

He'd go, "my friend," and "my friend this," and "my friend believes."  As you know, "my friend" is political talk for "up yours."

The comedian ended with a clip of the debate, if the main characters were played by animals.  Paul Ryan was cast as a meek cat, and Joe Biden as a wildly twitching chipmunk.

(H/T: Newsbusters)