Actor Zach Galifianakis' latest "Between Two Ferns" episode, featuring a sit-down with President Barack Obama, has generated record referrals to the Obamacare website.
By time the White House press briefing started midday Tuesday, it had drawn close to three million views, according to press secretary Jay Carney,
reports Politico.
During the satirical interview on the popular video website Funny or Die.com, Galifianakis asked Obama whether he goes to any sites that are .coms and .nets or sticks to .govs.
Urgent: Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance? Vote Now in Urgent Poll
The president replied, "Actually, we do go to .govs. Have you heard of healthcare.gov?"
At which point Galifianakis sighed and said, "Ok, let's get this out of the way. What did you come here to plug?"
"Have you heard of the Affordable Care Act?" Obama responded.
"Oh yeah I heard about that. That’s the thing that doesn't work right?" Galifianakis shot back.
Obama then went on to tout the merits of the Healthcare.gov website and make a pitch to young people to sign up by March 31.
Story continues below video.
But whatever impact the sales pitch may have had, according to House Speaker John Boehner, the underlying product remains deeply flawed.
“It seems the president’s push to enroll young adults is far too little, too late," Brendan Buck, Boehner's spokesman, said in a statement Tuesday.
"The administration won’t tell us how many people have actually paid for a plan or how many were previously uninsured. But what we do know is that young adults – those who the White House repeatedly said are critical – are deciding the health care law is a bad deal."
The statement continued, "Now, millions stand to be forced to pay a new tax because of this law. Given these dismal enrollment numbers, the president needs to work with Congress to get rid of this year’s individual mandate penalty."
Carney meanwhile reportedly couldn’t quantify the video’s actual impact on traffic to the site or say whether clicks to HealthCare.gov were leading to an increase in enrollment.
Urgent: Do You Approve Or Disapprove of President Obama's Job Performance? Vote Now in Urgent Poll