‘You Kept All Your Hair, And I’ve Lost Most Of Mine!’ Joe Biden Jokes His Way Through Vatican Visit
President Joe Biden took his Scranton-honed wit to Rome with him, rattling off wisecracks and familiar anecdotes throughout his visit to the Vatican and his audience with Pope Francis.
For reporters covering the president’s trip, it had to be a little like watching your dad work the crowd at a barbecue with jokes you’ve heard a million times, but might be new to the guests.
It began when the president and First Lady Jill Biden were greeted upon entering the Vatican by a line of dignitaries. The president deployed one of his favorite gags: “I’m Jill’s husband!”
And while meeting with Pope Francis, Biden lightened a somber moment — in which he gave the pontiff a challenge coin from Beau Biden’s unit — by relating another familiar joke.
“Another tradition is, I’m only kidding about this, if the next time I see you, you don’t have it, you have to buy the drinks.”
As the pope and his translator laughed along, Biden added “I’m the only Irishman you’ve ever met who’s never had a drink.”
The president has been known to give challenge coins on multiple occasions, and to repeat variations of that tradition.
Also during that visit, the president told a lengthy anecdote about baseball legend Satchel Paige. The punchline of the story is Paige telling reporters, after pitching a win on his 47th birthday, that his view of age was “How would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?”
“You’re 65 and I’m 60,” the president said to the pope.
The president frequently tells the Paige story, including at the White House when the L.A. Dodgers visited in July.
But some social media users shared an edited clip with the false claim that Biden told the pope “You’re the famous African-American baseball player in America,” necessitating this clarification from Breitbart reporter Charlie Spiering:
Full context of the video shows Joe Biden told the pope the story of Satchel Paige, but he did not call the pope a famous African-American baseball player.https://t.co/zAL4tHgyVl
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) October 29, 2021
Following that visit, the president rolled on to another meeting with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin and other dignitaries, where he rolled out the “I’m Jill’s husband” gag, then told another “Nice to see you, it’s been awhile. You kept all your hair, and I’ve lost most of mine!”
Watch above via Vatican News.
