Comedy King of Washington

The comedy king of Washington in an economic adviser to Barak Obama. He's not hilarious, but not bad for an econ egghead (I have a B.A. in economics from UCSB, but I'm funny at times.)

White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee took home the top prize in the 16th annual "D.C.'s Funniest Celebrity" contest on Wednesday evening, and he did so in a very unconventional way. Instead of adopting a traditional comedic routine of joke buildup and punchline, Goolsbee peppered an otherwise expected stump speech on the Obama administration's goals with subtle asides that constituted a humorous, sarcastic, self-deprecating and conspiratorial insight into the administration's most accessible punchlines. The targets? Hillary Clinton, Sen. Ben Nelson, Rod Blagojevich, Sarah Palin and Fox News.

As Goolsbee's routine unfolded, he adopted a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde persona; while elaborating on the administration's polished talking points, he'd drop his voice for vocal moments of internal monologue. Among them:

"When we came to office, it was not that fun of a time to be here in the economy ... but we basically knew what to do (panic) ...." "Let's just start with the fundamentals (throw money at the problem)." "We kinda had to go back and look at the old text books (Karl Marx, Trotsky)..."

On some U.S. banks: "Ingrateful bastards" who "bankrupted your grandma."

On the Obama administration's top priority coming into office: Make sure "all the Clinton people got their jobs back."

On the president's trip to Copenhagen and the Illinois delegation: "I think they're bringing the governors (if the parole board says it's okay)..."

On Sen. Ben Nelson: "He is still a Democrat and I do think that if you see somebody as distinguished as Senator Nelson, maybe we can learn something from him (sneak attack) maybe it's a lesson (stab him in the back) and there are many leading figures he reminds me of (Benedict Arnold) ..."

"If you think about it, we all want our kids to be educated. ... If you have no skills and no education and you don't know anything, what future do you possible have (Fox News Correspondent)...

On 2012: "I think [Republicans] might do better looking outside of Washington to governors, there's a lot of governors. There's obviously Sarah Palin (wingnut) from Alaska who's a former governor (quitter) and you cannot rule out that by 2012 (there will be a warrant for her arrest) that she'll be the nominee. ... They might want to take somebody who was against Obama from the start, someone who's just had it out for him for some time (Hillary Clinton)..."

"It's been a wild run. I'm just a guy from Chicago (future Fed chair)..."

That Goolsbee turned in an edgy performance that isn't quite in keeping with a message-focused White House shouldn't strike anyone as a surprise. Goolsbee has become a media darling and a favorite guest on cable news thanks, in part, to his eccentric personality and untraditional approach to economic talking points.

"There is literally more information on the back of a box of Fruit Loops than what" the McCain campaign presented in its economic policies, Goolsbee said during the 2008 presidential campaign.

"Don't believe anything the Canadians say," Goolsbee joked with Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert in July.

Perhaps sensing that his remarks were not in keeping with the administrations "no drama" ethos, Goolsbee ended his remarks thusly:

"Have some sympathy for the unemployed because, when Rahm Emanuel sees my comments from this evening, I am going to be one of them."

Sam Wurzelbacher — or "Joe the Plumber" to most of America — also competed in Wednesday's show. Here's his performance, where he talks about Barack Obama, the media and the woes of plumbing.