White House Mix-Up

Don't blame the Americans. When you’re too busy thinking of your country's soldiers in Iraq, or how you'll ever get to enter Harvard University, or who the next American Idol would be, you’ll end up stressed. And when you’re stressed, you can end up doing odd things (e.g. making hilarious videos).

The person behind the YouTube video which stars US President George W. Bush and US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is not any different. The video, which can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybj2FJ8iDCs, is described as a "hilarious satirical play". It features a funny conversation between Bush and Rice.

The video contains subtitles, which were taken from a play by Jim Sherman. The playwright wrote the script in 2002, after Hu Jintao was named chief of China's Communist Party. In 2006, voices and pictures were added to create the final video.

Over 390,000 people have viewed the video, more than 3600 of which have marked it as a favorite. There are over 225 comments on it; practically all are praising the video’s humor. Despite its brevity (it was 20 seconds away from three minutes), the video is well-liked because of its smart use of puns:

Rice: I have the report here about the new leader in China… Mr. President, Hu is the new leader
of China.
Bush: Well, that’s what I want to know.
…
Rice: Hu is leading China, Mr. President.
Bush: Whaddya’ asking me for?
Rice: I’m telling you Hu is leading China.
…
Bush: Will you or will you not tell me the name of the new leader of China?
Rice: Yes, sir.
Bush: Yassir? Yassir Arafat is in China? I thought he was in the Middle East.
…
Bush: Why don’t you get me the Secretary General of the United Nations on the phone?
…
Rice: Yes, sir.
Bush: Not Yassir. The guy at the United Nations.
Rice: Kofi?
Bush: Milk!
…
Rice: Hello. Rice here.
Bush: …And get a couple of egg rolls too, Condi…

Hu will laugh when he sees this video. Wait—who? I will. Hu will? You will…

Uh-oh. Now I’m confused as well.