Barack Obama's final presidential turkey pardoning

  • 24/11/2016
US President Barack Obama pardons Tot the turkey (Reuters)
US President Barack Obama pardons Tot the turkey (Reuters)

Outgoing US President Barack Obama has pardoned his eighth and final Thanksgiving turkey, accompanied by an onslaught of dad jokes.

"Thanksgiving is a family holiday as much as a national one," Mr Obama said from the garden outside the White House. "So for the past seven years I've established another tradition: embarrassing my daughters with a corny-copia of dad jokes about turkeys."

Sasha and Malia Obama - the Commander-in-Chief's daughters - were away with a scheduling conflict. Mr Obama said his bad puns are likely to blame.

"They were fed up," he said.

Tater and Tot were the names of the two Iowa-raised turkeys Mr Obama pardoned.

He carried on the ceremony indulging in an ongoing barrage of wordplay. Here are some of the worst, or best, depending on your sense of humour:

Mr Obama finished on a more serious and thankful note, speaking about the job creation, growth of equal opportunity and improved US housing situation that happened under his presidency.

"Thanksgiving is a good time to remember that," he said. "We have a lot more in common than divides us."

Newshub.