Boehner Parties in the Hamptons, Tells Joy Behar: 'I Am Obama's Best Friend'

by Matthew Boyle

Sep 23, 2014 9:35 AM PT

House Speaker John Boehner put comedienne Joy Behar in a headlock this weekend while in the Hamptons campaigning for Republican Lee Zeldin, telling the liberal former co-host of The View, “I am Obama’s best friend."

Behar ran into Boehner in a restaurant--Almond Restaurant in East Hampton--and told the Speaker to “stop obstructing President Obama” as she “tackled” him, according to the New York Post.

“Liberal comedienne and talk show host Behar tackled Boehner--whom she dubbed 'the Weeper of the House' after his waterworks in his famous ’60 Minutes’ interview--at Almond Restaurant in East Hampton on Saturday,” the Post’s Emily Smith wrote. “Boehner--who was out in the Hamptons to campaign against Long Island Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop and attended a fundraiser for Lee Zeldin at the home of developer Joe Farrell--then jokingly put Behar in a headlock. The moment was captured in a photo which appeared in Monday’s Page Six.”

"Boehner was eating at Almond with four Secret Service agents in suits. Compared to everyone else in casual Hamptons attire, they really stood out. They looked like they were going to a wake,” Behar told the Post’s Page Six.

Behar was there eating dinner with her husband Steve Janowitz, actor Ron Rifkin, and Rifkin’s wife Iva, and the Post’s Smith wrote that “she baited Boehner as he got up from his table to leave the restaurant.”

“I couldn’t resist having some fun. I jumped up and told him to stop obstructing President Obama,” Behar said. “I am sick of all this deadlock. Strangely, he replied, ‘I am Obama’s best friend.’ Then he put his arm around my neck and it looked like he was going to strangle me.”

About the headlock, Behar said, “Boehner had quite a grip. For a guy who cries a lot, he’s physically quite strong.”