Conan O’Brien Goes Toe-To-Toe With Madeleine Albright On Twitter, Loses
Never get involved in a word war with a diplomat. You may have never heard the saying, but it should probably enter the lexicon following a brief Twitter skirmish between late-night comedian Conan O’Brien and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. This battle of funnies did not go the way you might think it would have.
Conan sparked the short battle on Thursday with what he likely thought was a throwaway tweet, one that the Washington Post deems a “teeny bit sexist.”
I picked out my Halloween costume. I’m going as “Slutty Madeleine Albright.”
— Conan O’Brien (@ConanOBrien) October 23, 2014
As to the “sexist” aspect, that’s a bit hard to call. O’Brien wasn’t calling Albright out as “slutty,” but more making a comment on… you know what: this isn’t worth the overthinking. What’s more important is that Madeleine Albright fired back with both barrels within a half-hour.
.@ConanOBrien I’m considering going as hunky Conan O’Brien – but that might be too far fetched.
— Madeleine Albright (@madeleine) October 23, 2014
Boom. Sick. Burn.
Conan didn’t let it rest, but he did seem a bit cowed by the former Secretary of State’s response.
.@Madeleine YES – My first twitter war with a former Secretary of State! You’re next, George P. Shultz!
— Conan O’Brien (@ConanOBrien) October 23, 2014
And Albright responded with a pretty undiplomatic capstone, seemingly taking a victory lap at the late night host’s expense.
.@ConanOBrien Never get into a word war with a diplomat. We talk even more than comedians.
— Madeleine Albright (@madeleine) October 23, 2014
Finally, O’Brien admitted defeat.
Damn – Whenever I go toe to toe with @Madeleine Albright, she always wins.
— Conan O’Brien (@ConanOBrien) October 24, 2014
And it was over just like that. We haven’t seen a skirmish end so quickly, so one-sidedly, since the Anglo-Zanzibar war of 1896. (Bam! Colonial wars humor!)
Hopefully, though, this won’t be the last Twitter clash between diplomats and comedians. We’d love to see Jon Stewart go toe-to-toe with John Kerry. Maybe Stephen Colbert could take on Henry Kissinger in a gravitas-off. Or Condi Rice and Colin Powell could battle rap against Jimmy Fallon and the Legendary Roots Crew.
[Lead images via Friends of Kosovo and That NBA Lottery Pick]