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The Other Side is the official podcast of a great comedy club, the DC Improv.

Apr 25, 2016

The search for the funniest president continues! Today, most people just know Taft as the heaviest president -- but in his day the big guy was one of the most lovable public figures in America.

Our guest is Jon Lurie, a professor emeritus of legal history at Rutgers University who published a Taft biography in 2012. We talk about Taft's famous full-body laugh and his sardonic sense of humor. We review the most famous fat jokes at Taft's expense -- and the ways Taft responded to them. And most important, we try to figure out why a famously fun guy seemed so miserable while serving in the White House.

MUSIC: Hail Columbia, "Super Chief" by Count Basie and His Orchestra, "My Ohio Home" by Jean Goldkette and His Orchestra