Such a big letter for such small-looking hands. But that’s not what caught my attention after the historic Oval Office meeting Friday between President Trump and Kim Yong Chol, a high-ranking emissary for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. It’s what happened when he strutted in front of the press that left me with a strong sense of deja vu.
See, back in 2004, on his eponymous television show on Comedy Central, comedian Dave Chappelle played the late funk legend Rick James in one of the instant-classic skits called “Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories.” These were the hilarious reminiscences of the brother of comedian Eddie Murphy. Anyway, Charlie tells the story of how James came over to Eddie’s house and ground his muddy funkadelic boots into Eddie’s brand-new white sofa. Adding to the hilarity of Chappelle’s reenactment of the incident were cut-ins of James providing a rebuttal. Fair warning, if you watch the uncensored Comedy Central video below beyond the 1:51 mark, there are a few choice words you might find offense.
“See, I never just did things just to do them. Come on, what am I gonna do? Just all of a sudden just jump up and grind my feet on somebody’s couch like it’s something to do? Come on. I got a little more sense than that,” says the real Rick James. Then, he says less than a second later, “Yeah, I remember grinding my feet on Eddie’s couch.” It was such a hilarious and swift denial-admission that the show rewound the video and played it again. An aural and visual “Yeah, you heard that right.”
Since Friday, the television networks have supplied the nation with a present-day “Yeah, you heard that right.” Only it was an admission-denial that was not nearly as funny.
“This was a meeting where a letter was given to me by Kim Jong Un, and that letter was a very nice letter. Oh, would you like to see what was in that letter? Would you like it?” Trump triumphantly told reporters. “At some point I may be, it may be appropriate, and maybe I’ll be able to give it to you. Maybe you’ll be able to see it, and maybe fairly soon.” But, eight minutes later, the president said, “I haven’t seen the letter yet. I purposely didn’t open the letter. I haven’t opened it. I didn’t open it in front of the director. I said, ‘Would you want me to open it?’ He said, ‘You can read it later.’ I may be in for a big surprise.” WUT?!
The cliffhanger showman turned commander in chief knows we’re listening to him, right? And we thought the large letter from Pyongyang was comical. Lord, help us.
Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @Capehartj