Late-night TV can't get enough of Biden cursing at Fox reporter: 'Old Joe is back'

President Biden speaking into a microphone against a yellow backdrop
President Joe Biden speaks at a White House news conference last week. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)

Warning: All of the videos below contain profanity.

Late-night TV hosts had no bad words to say about Joe Biden after the president was caught cursing at a Fox News reporter Monday during an appearance in the East Room of the White House.

Comedians Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Trevor Noah and Seth Meyers had a field day with the incident, in which a microphone picked up Biden a Fox White House correspondent Peter Doocy a profanity for asking him a question about inflation.

In the moment, Biden was on his way out of the room when Doocy asked, "Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?” To which Biden sarcastically muttered, "It’s a great asset. More inflation. What a stupid son of a b—.”

"That's right: Old Joe is back," Colbert said Tuesday on "The Late Show." "'I've reached peak old man, giving zero malarkeys.'"

"This is what happens when you've been on Zoom calls for two years," Noah joked on "The Daily Show." "You forget that real life doesn't have a mute button."

On Monday night, Doocy said Biden personally called him later to "clear the air" and assure him the comment was "nothing personal, pal."

"'And then he told me, 'I gotta go,' and I said, 'OK,' and he said, 'Geez, what a jacka—,'" Colbert quipped. "'And I said, 'I can still hear you,' and he goes, 'It's nothing personal, pal.'"

"When your age is almost 80, and your approval rating's almost 30, you can pretty much say whatever you want," Fallon said on "The Tonight Show." "If Biden's next three years are going to be grandpa at Thanksgiving, sign me up. I'm in."

Noah and "Late Night's" Meyers jokingly questioned whether Biden's outburst was really an accidental hot-mic blunder, or if he wanted Doocy to hear the insult.

"A lot of people are asking if Biden even knew that the microphone was on, but guys, please, come on," Noah said. "He's sitting there talking into a giant microphone. So there's at least a 50/50 chance he knew it was there."

"Said Biden: 'I am so sorry. That was supposed to be into the main mic,'" Meyers quipped.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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