World's Biggest Celebrity Trapped in Formulaic Live Act

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“Good news. There’s no need to watch any more speeches made by President Obama,” David Rutz of the Washington Free Beacon writes:

When he starts to speak, you know in advance he’ll tell you it’s great to be back in whatever town he’s in.

He’ll advise you to have a seat (twice) and appreciate the introduction from his fellow Democrat.

He’ll certainly love you back.

Even the most formulaic rock stars and comedians know that they need to shake up the act every now and then and change the set list for their live gigs. As Mark Steyn wrote in Bob Hope’s 2003 obit, Hope was the first comedian to brag about using outside writers to keep his routines fresh and topical:

If Hope started out as the first modern comic, he quickly became the first post-modern one. Other comedians had writers, but they didn’t talk about them. Radio gobbled up your material so you needed fellows on hand to provide more. But Hope not only used writers, he made his dependence on them part of the act: “I have an earthquake emergency kit at my house. It’s got food, water and half-a-dozen writers.”

As the World’s Biggest Celebrity, Mr. Obama has access to even more show-biz writers than even Bob Hope could have dreamed of — and he dines with his fellow celebrities with increasing frequency. The New York Times, mining territory that Matthew Continetti of the Washington Free Beacon first explored a month and a half ago, breathlessly declared yesterday that “At Dinner Tables, a Restless Obama Finds an Intellectual Escape:”

Previous dinners at the White House have drawn varied celebrities, including Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Morgan Freeman and Bono. Many of the guests — including the Smiths and Mr. Freeman, as well as Anne Wojcicki — have been financial supporters of Mr. Obama’s campaigns.

Perhaps the acting president could ask Morgan Freeman or Will Smith who the hot writers in Hollywood are these days. Or Bono how to shake up a set list and reboot a dissipated live act that’s seen far too many encores and is now phoning it in:

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