Obama recalls meeting Madonna very formally in Fallon clip: 'I knew how to handle my business'

Madonna, Barack Obama
Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images; Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

A president must be able to observe proper conduct when meeting royalty, so it's no surprise that Barack Obama knew how to handle himself when he met the Queen of Pop.

In an exclusive clip from Friday's episode of The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon recalls introducing the former POTUS to Madonna when Obama appeared on the show in 2016 — and the commander-in-chief's very formal conduct when meeting her.

"We went over to see Madonna… she was very flirty, she's very sexy, and she was like, 'Hello, hi,'" Fallon recalls. "And you go, all business, 'Hello. Pleasure to meet you.' And I was like, 'That's right. That's the way Michelle would be like — that's right. That's how you do it.'"

"Don't think that you elected a fool," Obama quips. "I knew how to handle my business."

In the clip, the two also discuss Obama's two "Slow Jam the News" sketches on Late Night in 2012 and The Tonight Show in 2016. "I saw a different President Obama the second time around," Fallon says, recalling that the first time, the strait-laced president refused to perform a mood-appropriate "Oooh yeeeeah." The second time, however, Obama was much more enthusiastic about singing bars from Rihanna's "Work."

"That is a jam, and I know that jam well," Obama says.

The first volume of Obama's memoir A Promised Land recently debuted to favorable reviews and other associated late-night shenanigans. You can watch the full Fallon clip above.

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