A major American celebrity appears to be more popular than Canadian bad boy Justin Bieber in terms of popularity. When Bieber's appearance at the Between Two Ferns talk show was posted in the Web Site Funny or Die in September 2013, the episode got 17.8 million hits to date.

But when U.S. President Barack Obama showed up in the same show on Tuesday, March 11, and it was posted on the same Web site, the show received 15 million views as of Friday, March 14.

The president agreed to be interviewed by Zach Galifianakis to convince the youth to sign up for health insurance. It is considered a milestone in media, particularly for the Internet, in the same way that Franklin Roosevelt's fireside charts did for radio and the Kennedy-Nixon debate did for TV.

Mr Obama believes he could reach his target audience after his teen daughter Malia became excited when he told her of the Between Two Ferns interview at the dinner table since she has viewed a lot of the show's posts.

He recalled that the host, who asks his guests hostile or improper questions, was apparently nervous while taping the episode at the White House. Mr Obama said, quoted by Bigstory, "He was looking around at all the Secret Service guys with guns and thinking, 'I wonder what happens if I cross the line?'"

While the president appears ready to beat Bieber's record, he has a long way to surpass the 81 million views posted in Funny or Die in 2007 of comedian Will Ferrell being harassed by a small landlord. Mr Ferrell started the comic Web site.

Dick Glove, CEO of the Web site, hinted their next guest wish list includes Russian President Vladimir Putin.