According to CBS News's Maria Gavrilovic, Barack Obama "used comedy to mock and ridicule the McCain-Palin ticket" during a town hall meeting in Michigan last night and "got a lot of laughs."

Here are some of the jokes:

When discussing McCain’s energy plan, Obama poked fun at his line on drilling. “What were the Republicans hollerin’, ‘drill baby drill’? What kind of slogan is that?! They were getting all excited about drilling!”

He even found a way to make an answer to a question on civil liberties comical. While speaking about the importance of habeas corpus, Obama said, “We don’t always catch the right person. We may think this is Mohammed the terrorist, it might be Mohammed the cab driver. You may think it’s Barack the bomb thrower, but it might be Barack the guy running for president.”

Guess you had to be there.

UPDATE by Dean Barnett: My friend and colleague Richard Starr is obviously unfamiliar with the fact that “Barack the Bomb Thrower” has been a staple character of comedy since the glory days of Vaudeville. My favorite Barack the Bomb Thrower joke goes something like this:

Barack the Bomb Thrower walks into a bar with a duck on his head. The bartender says, “Can I help you?” The duck says, “Yes, please. Barack the Bomb Thrower’s been on my ass all day.”

I think we can all agree that it’s good to see Obama finally loosen up on the campaign trail and have some fun.