Tales from the Trail

Funny guy emerges from the dismal science.

Austan Goolsbee, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, proved last night that economists can dish as good as they get.

He turned the tables on the image of the economist as a numbers nerd usually on the receiving end of jokes, by winning the 16th annual “D.C.’s Funniest Celebrity” contest.

The video of his winning routine at the Washington D.C. Improv posted on Politico.com can be seen below.

The wiry Chicago economist did his stand-up routine in front of the microphone in suit and tie with White House credentials hanging around his neck.

The jokes were inserted (asides) to a monologue on political life in Washington.

“I’m just a guy from Chicago” (future Fed chair).

When President Barack Obama entered office it was not a fun time in the economy but the all-star team of economists “basically knew what to do” (panic).

“Let’s react the right way when things happen” (aaaarrrggghhh).

“We kind of had to go back and look at the old textbooks,” (Karl Marx, Trotsky).

Funny guy.

UPDATE: More than a few bloggers have noted Goolsbee’s act owed a certain debt to Kevin Nealon’s “Mr Subliminal.”

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Photo Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Goolsbee during economic summit in 2008)