--- title: Michelle Obama Tells Jimmy Fallon Young People Are ‘Knuckleheads’ Who Need Obamacare description: First Lady Michelle Obama said Thursday that young people need health insurance because they’re “knuckleheads," as she touted Obamacare during her appearance on the Tonight... canonical: https://time.com/9201/michelle-obama-jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-obamacare/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-21T13:34:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:27:53.710Z article:section: Politics og:title: Michelle Obama Tells Jimmy Fallon Young People Are ‘Knuckleheads’ Who Need Obamacare og:description: First Lady Michelle Obama said Thursday that young people need health insurance because they’re “knuckleheads," as she touted Obamacare during her appearance on the Tonight... og:url: https://time.com/9201/michelle-obama-jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-obamacare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michelle Obama Tells Jimmy Fallon Young People Are ‘Knuckleheads’ Who Need Obamacare twitter:description: First Lady Michelle Obama said Thursday that young people need health insurance because they’re “knuckleheads," as she touted Obamacare during her appearance on the Tonight... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Michelle Obama Tells Jimmy Fallon Young People Are 'Knuckleheads' Who Need Obamacare ## Video: Late-Night Highlight: Michelle Obama Does 'Ew!' With Jimmy Fallon [Watch (HLS stream): Late-Night Highlight: Michelle Obama Does 'Ew!' With Jimmy Fallon](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6b08MrLm.m3u8) (0:54)  _Published 2014-02-21. The First Lady joined Jimmy Fallon and Will Ferrell for some 'Ew!' talk, and she even brought chips. Well, kale chips._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 21, 2014 1:34 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 21, 2014 1:34 PM UTC First Lady Michelle Obama said Thursday that young people need health insurance because they’re “knuckleheads,” as she touted Obamacare during her appearance on the _Tonight Show_ with Jimmy Fallon. “A lot of young people think they’re invincible,” Obama. “But they truth is young people are knuckleheads. They’re the ones who are cooking for the first time and slice their finger open. They’re dancing on the bar stool.” Later in the show, the First Lady promoted her healthy living initiative “Let’s Move” during sketch in which Fallon and guest Will Ferrell played teen girls. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/9201/michelle-obama-jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-obamacare/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/9201/michelle-obama-jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-obamacare/"},"headline":"Michelle Obama Tells Jimmy Fallon Young People Are 'Knuckleheads' Who Need Obamacare","datePublished":"2014-02-21T13:34:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:27:53.710Z","description":"First Lady Michelle Obama said Thursday that young people need health insurance because they’re “knuckleheads,\" as she touted Obamacare during her appearance on the Tonight...","url":"https://time.com/9201/michelle-obama-jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-obamacare/","keywords":["White House","Michelle Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/9201/michelle-obama-jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-obamacare/","name":"Michelle Obama Tells Jimmy Fallon Young People Are 'Knuckleheads' Who Need Obamacare"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Late-Night Highlight: Michelle Obama Does 'Ew!' 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