Biden Admits He Is A Bad Cook, Laughs Off Approval Rating On 'Tonight Show' Debut As President

US President Joe Biden made his first late-night TV appearance since taking office as he took questions from Jimmy Fallon on NBC's ‘The Tonight Show’

Joe Biden (File Image)

New Delhi: US President Joe Biden Friday made his first late-night TV appearance since taking office. He appeared virtually on NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", and spoke on a range of matters including vaccination, climate bill, inflation, his approval ratings — and also his cooking skills, or the lack of it.   

This was Biden’s third appearance on the show. He was previously present on the show twice — once as vice president and the other time as presidential candidate.

Biden, 79, is the first sitting president to come on the show since Barack Obama’s 2016 appearance.

Speaking on the show Friday, Biden said more Americans should get vaccinated against Covid-19, and also get a booster shot. He said doing this would be a “patriotic” act.

"...the way to avoid this virus is to get two shots and then get the booster shot," he said.

Biden also answered Fallon’s question on his approval rating, which doesn’t paint a very rosy picture.

According to a recent Monmouth University poll, Biden’s job rating is 40 per cent, while an NPR/Marist survey put it at 42 per cent, NBC reported.

When Fallon asked the president how much attention did he pay to the approval ratings, Biden joked: "Well, not anymore".

"Look, people are afraid, people are worried, and people are getting so much inaccurate information to them — I don't mean about me, but about their situation," he said on the show.

Biden also spoke about his ‘Build Back Better’ plan and vowed to combat inflation, saying he hoped both the pandemic and the inflation would be “under control” by this time in 2022.

'We Can Make Our Own Eggs...'

On a lighter note, Biden told Fallen how he and First Lady Jill Biden convinced the White House staff to let them cook their own breakfast at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"We come from middle-class backgrounds... We’re not used to people waiting on us," he said.

“We now have a deal — we don’t have them (the staff who run the kitchen) come in to do breakfast for us, because there’s no need for them to have to do breakfast for us.”

Biden added: “We can make our own eggs or pour a bowl of cereal…”

"You make your own eggs?" Fallon asked, interrupting the president.

“Well, I don’t. Jill does,” Biden said as the audience laughed and clapped.

He also shared an anecdote to highlight that he is not a good cook.

Biden said his daughter — when she was a minor — once said in an interview: “My daddy can’t do much. He can boil water and make pasghetti. He can’t do much else.”

“And guess what? She is right,” he added.

President Biden has been criticised for not addressing the media too often or meeting reporters for interviews.

According to a Reuters report, he has held only six solo and three joint news conferences since assuming office. In comparison, former president Donald Trump held 35 solo and one joint news conferences in his final year in office, the report said, quoting the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara.