Bravo to both presidential candidates for taking a break from the seriousness of this year’s campaign to do their stand-up routines at Waldorf Astoria, where they roast themselves and each other in honor of former New York Gov. Al Smith, the first Catholic presidential candidate. Politics aside, both speeches were pretty goddamn great, and they both got just as many jabs in at themselves as they did each other. I think I was most surprised by the fact that Mitt Romney has a sense of humor.

If you have the time, give a listen to both speeches. They’re funny, congratulatory, good spirited, and ultimately, humanizing for both candidates. In fact, presidential campaigns should add a fourth debate, in which the candidates are judged based on their stand-up material. I’d probably give the nod here to Romney, but mostly because of the low expectation going on. However, I’m sure Stephanie Cutter is somewhere prattling nonsensically to some reporter insisting that Obama won.

Mitt Romney

Barack Obama

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Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.

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