Bradley Cooper helped to organise Barack Obama’s Between Two Ferns sketch

Bradley Cooper has been credited with introducing President Barack Obama to his The Hangover pal Zach Galifianakis after reportedly coming up with the idea for the U.S. leader to film a mock-interview to promote his new healthcare initiative. Funnyman Galifianakis scored a huge Internet hit last month (Mar14) after sitting down with the politician for his irreverent FunnyOrDie.com web series Between Two Ferns, on which Obama was grilled on topics as varied as North Korea, his birth certificate and being “a nerd”.
It racked up three million hits within just two hours of going live and provided a big boost to the leader’s Heathcare.gov website, and now editors at Politico.com claim Cooper was the one to hook the unlikely pair up.
The American Hustle star was invited to the White House in February (14) to attend a state dinner in honour of French President Francois Hollande’s U.S. visit, and during the event, the actor sat down with Obama’s senior advisor Valerie Jarrett to “brainstorm ideas about how to help get the word out” about the Affordable Care Act.
According to the political news site, Cooper suggested Obama film a Between Two Ferns skit and then “pulled out his cell phone, got Galifianakis on the line and put him on speaker”.
The article continues, “He (Galifianakis) was ready to help. Now they just needed to sell the idea to the president.”
Cooper was even mentioned in the hilarious interview after Obama praised the Oscar nominee for putting on “a great show” during his own Between Two Ferns appearance in 2009, to which Galifianakis responded, “Bradley Cooper… Everybody loves Bradley… Being like that in Hollywood, that’s easy. Be short, fat, and smell like Doritos and try to make it in Hollywood!”
The bearded comedian wasn’t the only star to help Obama raise awareness about the new bill – the mothers of Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys and Adam Levine all stepped into the spotlight to urge young Americans to register for healthcare, while actor Adam Scott recently reprised his role from hit 2008 comedy Step Brothers to jokingly rant about the initiative.