Fox News Melts Down After Biden Eats Ice Cream with Seth, Talks Gaza Ceasefire: A Closer Look

-President Biden announced that the U.S.

is working towards a cease-fire in Gaza

that could come as soon as Monday,

but he also sent the nation

into a full-blown constitutional crisis

by eating ice cream with me.

[ Laughter ]

For more on this, it’s time for "A Closer Look."

No, wait. "A Closer Lick."

[ Cheers and applause ]

Yeah, finally used it.

So, you guys, a weird thing happened to me on Monday.

We had President Biden on our anniversary show.

We asked him some questions. We made some jokes.

It was a nice time, then after the show,

he asked me to go downstairs with him to get ice cream,

and I said, "Sure, why not?"

It was our show’s anniversary. I was in a celebratory mood.

Plus, my wife doesn’t like it when I have dairy after 5:00.

But when the President asks...

[ Laughter ]

A few hours later, I get home,

sit down on the couch, and relax

by doing what all Americans do to relax.

I turn on cable news, and I was flabbergasted,

dumbstruck, one might even say agog,

to see this on my television screen.

-Seth Meyers stepped into an ice cream shop

with none other than President Biden.

-The President and Meyers stopped by an ice cream shop.

-The President enjoying an ice cream cone

there with Seth Meyers.

-He did grab an ice cream cone with Seth Meyers.

-The president made a spontaneous announcement

at an ice cream shop after he had taped a segment

with the late-night host Seth Meyers,

which is why you see him standing by his side.

-Seth Meyers and President Biden had ice cream

while talking about the war in the Middle East.

-The President of United States

answered very serious questions about Israel,

for example, while licking an ice cream cone.

-Holding an ice cream -- I know.

I was like, "It’s melting. This is weird."

But he got asked the question. He answered the question.

-It was really strange. Yeah, really strange.

-You think it was strange for you?

I was standing right next to him.

Usually I’m the one taking closer looks at the news.

Now I’m in the news, which means it’s time

to take a closer look at...

myself.

[ Echoing ] For more on this...

Shame on me, by the way,

for forgetting the first rule of comedy.

When the Middle East comes up, put your ice cream cone down.

[ Laughter ]

Seriously, cameraman, you didn’t want to help a brother out

and frame the shot a little tighter?

Never before in my life has the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" music

been louder in my head than during this moment.

-We’re close, we’re close. It’s not done yet.

[ "Curb Your Enthusiasm" theme plays ]

[ Applause ]

-By the way, this is not the first time this has happened to me.

Eagle-eyed students of history will also note

that I was eating ice cream next to Ronald Reagan

when he made his "Tear down this wall" speech.

I was standing next to Nikita Khrushchev

at the UN during the Cold War.

And I was there at the signing

of the Declaration of Independence.

I’m the reason for the famous chocolate smudge.

Seriously, you try exhibiting gravitas

next to the President of the United States

while licking some honeycomb ice cream

surrounded by a group of strangers.

You know, at least, to my credit,

I had a very suave, super-charming icebreaker

for all the customers in the ice cream shop.

Hi. How are you? -Hi.

-Nice to see you guys.

See?

See, I don’t need writers.

[ Laughter ]

But you know what? Fine. So what? So what?

So I was in the news for solemnly licking some ice cream.

At least it wasn’t global news.

-Let’s just have a listen to what Joe Biden

had to say yesterday

while out filming in New York with Seth "Mayer."

-Seth Mayer? Well, the hits keep on coming.

Who is Seth Mayer?

You’re making me sound like the less cool brother of John Mayer.

While John Mayer shreds onstage,

Seth Mayer stands off to the side eating ice cream.

Makes small talk with the audience.

You guys like music, too?

[ Laughter ]

And apparently it’s not just the U.K.

where I didn’t make much of an impression.

One pro-Trump pundit wrote on Twitter...

He’s not by himself!

I’m standing right there!

I’m Seth [bleep] Mayer, and I deserve some respect.

Of course --

[ Cheers and applause ]

Of course, the setting was not nearly as significant

as the substance of what Biden said

when a reporter asked him about the possibility

of an imminent cease-fire in Gaza.

-Well, I hope by the beginning of the weekend.

I mean the end of the weekend.

At least my -- my national security adviser

tells me that we’re close.

We’re close. It’s not done yet.

And my hope is by next Monday, we’ll have a cease-fire.

-Don’t frame me up.

[ Laughter ]

The worst part of that clip was when the camera

panned back to me holding my [bleep] ice cream.

There’s nowhere to put it.

[ Laughter ]

The whole time I was watching that,

I was thinking to myself, "Please stay on Biden.

Please stay on Biden. Please stay on Biden.

Ah! God damn it!"

You might say, "Why didn’t you look

where the camera was pointing?"

I couldn’t get caught looking into the lens.

I already felt like I was in an episode of "Curb" and "Veep."

I didn’t want to do a Jim Halpert look

into the camera, too.

[ Laughter ]

[ Applause ]

No, I will say, as I was listening in the moment,

I was thinking to myself, "I really hope he’s right

about an imminent cease-fire."

In fact, I hope it comes as soon as possible,

because as far as I can tell,

the only way out of this nightmare

is an immediate, lasting cease-fire

and the safe return of all hostages.

In the meantime, Axios reports that...

Wait, why until mid-March?

Shouldn’t we always be abiding by international law?

I’m no legal scholar,

but my understanding of international law

is that, much like ice cream, it’s available all year-round.

There are no exceptions. It’s not alternate-side parking.

I’ve never seen a sign that says...

So agree or disagree, there was plenty of substance

to chew over from Biden’s appearance on her show Monday,

but the right seemed laser-focused

on what was clearly much more important to them,

the ice cream.

-Something else that was kind of funny tonight,

to see President Biden at the ice cream shop in New York,

where he was fundraising and taping a late-night comedy show.

-Forgive me, Bret, but I’m shaking my head at that.

Consider the optics -- a major news announcement,

nearing a cease-fire,

while getting ice cream with Seth Meyers.

There’s something wrong with that.

-That’s what he said while he was eating ice cream there,

that ice cream cone, which, if that’s true,

that is a major policy announcement

that typically you wouldn’t make

with ice cream in your right hand.

-You know who lights up for ice cream?

Children and the elderly.

-You know, in between slurps of his ice cream cone,

Forrest Gump is, like, starting to exhaust me with all of this.

I personally am sick and tired

of hearing about how much he loves ice cream.

-Okay, first of all, he wasn’t slurping,

because slurping makes a sound

and all I could hear was my heart pounding

and the ice cream slowly dripping onto my cone hand.

Also, Biden’s not Forrest Gump in that situation.

I am!

I’m the one standing next to a world leader

not knowing why I’m there

and wishing I was just playing Ping-Pong.

He not the Gump. I the Gump.

It’s like my mama always said, "You guys like ice cream, too?"

[ Laughter ]

I didn’t know.

I didn’t know if they liked it.

And I wanted to ask.

[ Laughter ]

They were tourists.

I wanted to be like, "If you don’t, go elsewhere."

And I also know Biden isn’t Forrest Gump

because unlike Gump, Biden doesn’t run.

He’s more of a shuffler, you know.

Still more than Donald Trump is capable of.

That man can’t run or shuffle.

If we ever invited him on this show,

we wouldn’t even make it to the couch.

He'd just wander in circles until he forgot where he was

and just give up.

Besides, I would never invite Trump on this show

because, "A," it would be pointless

and, "B," what would we eat afterwards?

There’s no KFC in 30 Rock.

[ Laughter ]

And if there was, the CNN headline would probably say...

By the way, I agree it’s not ideal

to make serious announcements while eating ice cream,

but in fairness, he was already eating ice cream,

and then they asked him the question.

If the question had been, "Do you like sprinkles?"

that would have been a [bleep] insane answer.

So Fox was mad about the ice cream,

but no one was more upset than Fox host Jesse Watters.

-A grown man, especially the President,

should not be licking ice cream in public.

-Yeah, a grown man shouldn’t lick ice cream in public.

They should be at the Iowa State Fair

glory-holing a corndog.

[ Laughter, applause ]

Adult stuff.

You know what? You’re right.

Grown adults should never eat ice cream in public.

And Fox News would never do something so embarrassing.

-It is National Ice Cream Day, and we are celebrating

with a sweet setup on Fox Square.

We’re joined by president and CEO

of Friendly’s restaurant, Craig Erlich.

Craig, good morning to you. Happy National Ice Cream Day.

-Thank you so much. We have our Cone Head sundae.

We have our Monster Mash sundae. We have our regular sundae.

We have our Jim Dandy sundae. Everybody loves the Jim Dandy.

And then my favorite are the Fribbles.

And in celebration of our birthday,

we’re giving away free Fribbles.

-Okay, first of all, in fairness,

I only knew about that clip because I was there, too.

I mean, guys, it’s right across the street.

I heard about the free ice cream

and I said, "To hell with politics.

I’m going to get myself a Fribble."

Fine. That’s just "Fox & Friends."

They do stuff like that all the time.

Surely no Republican president would ever be caught dead

in an ice cream shop.

-Donald Trump makes a visit to Carvel Ice Cream in Westwood,

and his fans are delighted by the sweet surprise.

[ Crowd cheering ]

-Trump stopped by a nearby Dairy Queen

following his campaign pitch.

He was greeted by chants of "USA!"

as he handed out Blizzard ice cream treats.

-You were at a Dairy Queen

and you couldn’t wager a guess as to what a Blizzard might be?

At least when they asked Biden

if he wanted a cup or a cone, he didn’t say,

"I don’t know what either of those [bleep] things are."

This is the same sort of performative outrage

the right-wing media's specialized for years now.

They don’t care if their hypocrisy

is shameless and transparent.

Maybe next time Trump is on Fox News,

they can ask him a hard-hitting question like...

[ Laughter ]

This has been "A Closer Lick."

[ Cheers and applause ]

Hey, everybody, thanks for watching "A Closer Look."

And as a reminder, my brother Josh and I

have started a new podcast

called "Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers."

We hope you listen. We hope you like it.

We’ll see you soon.