Rick Perry Cautions Jimmy Kimmel: ‘I Do Interviews with a Gun’

Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) received both applause and more than a smattering of boos from a hometown crowd last night when he appeared on night two of Jimmy Kimmel’s week of show from Austin, Texas’ SXSW festival. “There’s three places you want to make sure you don’t want to be introduced when you’re in the business I’m in,” Perry quipped, using a dangerous rhetorical construction, “a hockey match, a rock concert, and now Jimmy Kimmel’s show.”

“What have you done to make these people dislike you so intensely?” Kimmel asked, before helping Perry out with the Austin crowd by mentioning his possible openness to marijuana decriminalization in the state. While Perry said he has never used the drug himself, he did say, “you don’t want to ruin a kid’s life for having a joint.”

Later, Kimmel brought up the time Perry shot a coyote while jogging, asking, “you jog with a gun?”

“I do interviews with a gun,” Perry replied, without missing a beat.

As for his 2016 presidential aspirations, Perry was reluctant to announce anything about his plans to Kimmel’s crowd. “Why would you run for president?” Kimmel asked. “It didn’t go so great last time.”

“America is a great place for second chances, let’s just leave it at that,” Perry said.

Watch both parts of Kimmel’s interview with Perry below, via ABC

[photo via screengrab]

— —

>> Follow Matt Wilstein (@TheMattWilstein) on Twitter

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!