By MIKE CIDONI
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- If Barack Obama ever planned to show up to Tuesday's BET Awards, he'd have done well to prepare for a roasting by host D.L. Hughley.

"He does look like the dude from 'Mad' magazine," Hughley joked of the Democratic presidential nominee in an interview with AP Television. "It's so funny because he ain't a cool dude to me. He's like a tall Urkel dude (the bespectacled nerd from the '90s sitcom 'Family Matters'). But for the first black president, I'll take him. ... Like, how bad a president is George Bush, when the country goes, 'You know, we'll try the black guy'?"

Obama's competitors are also possible targets for the 44-year-old actor-comedian, who recently starred on TV's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."

"I dug Hillary (Clinton) and I dug him," Hughley said. "I didn't have to not like her so I could like him, and not like him so I could like her."

Hughley didn't reserve his barbs for just the Democrats.

"And then you've got John McCain. And it's so funny, because you've got a guy who's half-black running against a guy who's half-dead."

The BET Awards, which recognize the best in black entertainment in 15 categories, will be broadcast live from the Shrine Auditorium.

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