Obama's day: Hitting the comedy circuit

President Obama and his speechwriters have probably been working on some extra zingers for two events Thursday.

The president's comedy chops get a workout for his interview with "fake newsman" Jon Stewart and an appearance -- along with Republican opponent Mitt Romney -- at the 67th annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner in New York City.

Obama also has a traditional campaign appearance Thursday morning in a traditional battleground state, New Hampshire. Obama will speak at Veterans Memorial Park in Manchester.

Then it's off to New York for the afternoon taping of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

It is Obama's sixth appearance on the program that satirizes the news, his second as president.

The Al Smith dinner, a major annual charity event organized by the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, is renowned for having politicians make fun of themselves and each other.

Obama and Romney will speak separately.

Four years ago, during his race against John McCain, Obama used the Al Smith dinner to joke about his image among supporters: "Who is Barack Obama? Contrary to the rumors you may have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-El, to save the planet Earth."

McCain joked at that event: "This campaign needed the common touch of the working man. After all, it began so long ago with the heralded arrival of the man known to Oprah Winfrey as 'The One.' Being a friend and colleague of Barack, I just called him 'That One.' He doesn't mind at all. In fact, he even has a pet name for me: 'George Bush.'"

The day's comedy events won't be without tension.

Stewart, while generally sympathetic to Obama, has been critical of parts of his campaign this year.

And some Catholic officials, meanwhile, are arguing with the Obama administration about whether Catholic institutions can be forced to provide birth control benefits in employee health care plans.