No improv for you

Surly, face-shooting vice president Dick Cheney considered an awards luncheon a fine opportunity for improvisational comedy:

The new, lighthearted Mr. Cheney described how his wife, Lynne, had discovered the Obama connection. She traced the connection to Mr. Cheney’s maternal grandmother who, as it turned out, is also descended from someone named Cheney.

“So we had Cheneys on both sides of the family — and we don’t even live in West Virginia,” the vice president deadpanned. (The state’s longtime Democratic senator, Robert C. Byrd, later blasted the comment as a “pitiful” example of Mr. Cheney’s “trademark arrogance.”)

As the audience burst out laughing, Mr. Cheney added, “You can say these things when you’re not running for re-election.”

West Virginia was not amused.

The joke was so surprising that it turned into news. Unfortunately, the state of West Virginia wasn’t laughing along. In rebuke after rebuke, public officials railed against Mr. Cheney’s stab at comedy.

Cheney’s office issued a pro forma mea culpa.

The Vice President’s offhand comment was not meant to hurt anyone. On reflection, he concluded that it was an inappropriate attempt at humor that he should not have made. The Vice President apologizes to the people of West Virginia for the inappropriate remark.

Because the Vice President is a very reflective soul.

No word on whether his rumored scheduled appearance at the Funny Bone is still a go.