In all fairness, Hillary Clinton comes off quite well on the Funny or Die sketch Between Two Ferns, with cripplingly awkward host Zach Galifianakis.
She holds her own as he hits her with the usual graceless needling - references to white supremacy, questions about what she'll wear if she becomes the first 'girl' in the White House and when Zach hits pause, mid-sketch, for a Trump commercial.
But though her much anticipated appearance on the show was relatively watchable, it didn't exactly push the boat out for comedy or have us thigh-slapping, ROFLing in the aisles and sharing the video across all our social media channels.
After all, she's no Barack. Right?
Right.
Except, should she have to be?
We've been delightfully spoilt with President Barack Obama. Say what you will about ObamaCare, tax cuts or his handling of the war in Afghanistan, he's just a really likeable guy.
Those lovely crow's feet, naughty grin and his jazz-hands enthusiasm for sending himself up on television are drinkable like a fine wine.
If he's not smirking between the ferns, he's being snapped mimicking McKayla Maroney in the White House or slow jamming the news on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon:
In the grotesque beauty pageant that is American politics, Hillary hasn't got a patch on Barack. Bill's done a great job of eroding the Brady Bunch-style home life that one seems to be required to have, Hillary's not great at dazzling the world with her super-pearly vaselined teeth and she doesn't know how to rap (or if she secretly does, she's not letting on).
If Hillary's Presidential dexterity is to be predicated on the whether or not she can match the strength of Obama's comedic timing, she's being set up for a fall before you've even opened the book on her economic policy.
So, the problem with Hillary's appearance on Between Two Ferns is the fact that she was required to do it in the first place.
In many ways Jimmy Fallon handled the whole situation a lot better by just letting Hillary sit opposite him for a wee chat, with no frills, bells or whistles:
She's running for office, not 'office clown.'
Natasha Bird is the Former Executive Editor (Digital) of ELLE.
