Barack Obama swaps jokes with Cuban comedian Luis Silva in Facebook video

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White House released video sketch on Facebook page of US Embassy in Havana showing President Obama and comedian Luis Silva
Silva plays Panfilo, a character on his Cubavision show 'Vivir del cuento'
The pair crack jokes throughout the three and a half minute sketch
Obama is set to arrive in Cuba as the first president to visit in 88 years
The visit is part of the president's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba

By Regina F. Graham For Dailymail.com and Associated Press and Afp

Published: 21:47 EST, 19 March 2016 | Updated: 07:56 EST, 20 March 2016

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On the eve of his visit to Cuba, President Barack Obama cracked jokes with the communist country's most loved comedian in a surprise exchange broadcast online.

Luis Silva plays Panfilo, an elderly character on a wildly popular show that often uses biting humor to comment on social reality and lampoon the failings of Cuba's government and centrally planned economy.

In the three and a half minute video sketch released on the Facebook page of the US embassy in Havana on Saturday, the comedian acted out calling the White House and asking to speak to Obama.

It starts with Panfilo calling to see about the weather for a baseball game during Obama's trip to Cuba. Obama answers the phone call, leaving Panfilo shocked that he got the actual president on the line.

Scroll down for video

President Barack Obama cracked jokes with the communist country's most loved comedian in a surprise exchange broadcast online. The video starts with Luis Silva, who plays Panfilo, calling to see about the weather for a baseball game during Obama's trip to Cuba (above)

Obama answers the phone call, leaving Panfilo shocked that he got the actual president on the line. He explains to Obama that he's the Panfilo from the popular TV show in Cuba

'This is President Obama.'

'Oh my God I'm talking with Obama,' the star struck comedian says.

'Yes the real Obama. Who's this?' the president deadpans.

'I'm Panfilo from Cuba.'

'The real Panfilo - from the TV show?'

'From the TV show. He knows me!'

'No way, how are you?' the president replies in Spanish this time, using Cuban slang.

'I'm so glad you'll come to visit,' Panfilo says, as Obama replies telling him that he's looking forward to the trip.

'The American people and the Cuban people are friends,' Obama said.

Panfilo advised that the president not bring heavy luggage 'or you'll get stuck at the airport.'

He also volunteered to pick him up from the airport if he needs a ride, and said if he needed a place to stay he could stay with him.

Obama flashed a smile at several moments throughout the quick exchange with Panfilo, who asked the president (above) what's going on?

'I'm so glad you'll come to visit,' Panfilo says, adding advice that the president not bring heavy luggage 'or you'll get stuck at the airport.'

'We are very hospitable,' Panfilo told the president before offering his bed to him and Michelle.

Panfilo then tells Obama that 'he will have a good time', sharing that the president can have a beer and play dominoes.

The president then signed off the call by telling Panfilo, 'See you in Havana.'

Panfilo is a character embodied by the actor Luis Silva, whose weekly program on Cubavision 'Vivir del cuento' — roughly 'Surviving By Your Wits' in Spanish — is unusually breezy and often bitingly humorous by the standards of Cuban airwaves.

In a country that has little tolerance for open dissent, the show's humor strikes a chord with Cubans fed up with corruption and scarcity that can make daily life a slog, and the program's jokes are repeated and discussed on Tuesday mornings in the local equivalent of water-cooler banter.

While artists, musicians and other entertainers have long been allowed more leeway to be gently critical, Silva is part of a new generation of comics who are packing theaters with routines that poke fun at the government in ways far more daring than in even the recent past.

The skit was part of the build up to the first visit by a US president to Cuba in 88 years and a landmark step in ending a tense standoff between the neighbors that dates back to the overthrow by Fidel Castro of a US-backed government in 1959.

Panfilo also volunteered to pick him up from the airport if he needs a ride, and said if he needed a place to stay he could stay with him

The president then signed off the call by telling Panfilo, 'See you in Havana'

Relatively few Cubans have access to internet fast enough to watch a video, and it wasn't immediately clear if Cuban TV would show the sketch, in which Silva pokes fun at Cuba's old cars and hours-long lines at airport customs booths.

Obama has been aggressive in blending politics with entertainment, a conscious effort to reach a broad array of Americans.

He makes regular appearances on late night talk shows and has been interviewed by people with popular YouTube channels, including a woman best known for a video featuring her in a bathtub full of milk and cereal.

White House officials have pointed to Obama's 2014 appearance on the satirical web series 'Between Two Ferns' as one of the biggest successes of this outreach strategy.

Obama bantered with actor Zach Galifianakis, who needles his guests with hostile or inappropriate questions, as part of a pitch to get young people to sign up for his health care law.