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Former President George W. Bush made a rare late-night talk show appearance on Tuesday when he sat for a chat with Jay Leno of 鈥�The Tonight Show." President Bush鈥檚 agreement to do the show was, in fact, somewhat unexpected, according to Mr. Leno. He said on-air that while he and his staff had proffered President Bush an invite, they had not really expected 鈥淲鈥� to accept.

At this point, a master of comic timing. He answered 鈥渙nly because of you鈥� to Leno, drawing audience applause. Then Bush waited ... just long enough before saying, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e about to head out to pasture. Just wanted to see what you look like before you go out that gate."

Leno鈥檚 getting pushed out the door, see. NBC has already announced that Jimmy Fallon will replace him at the end of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

So yes, Bush was pretty funny. Asked whether he was worried about history鈥檚 judgment, he noted he鈥檇 just finished reading a book about George Washington.

鈥淚f they鈥檙e still writing biographies of the first guy, the 43rd聽guy doesn鈥檛 need to worry about it,鈥� he said.

When Bush and Leno were chatting about pets, the talk-show host asked why Bush鈥檚 cat is named 鈥淏ob."

鈥淪o I could remember how to spell it when I got older,鈥� Bush said.

Here are three other things we鈥檇 say we learned from the appearance:

Ex-presidents have more fun. It鈥檚 a truism of Washington that presidents age in office. Their hair goes gray, they stoop a bit, and they often look as if they just came from a depressing briefing. Have you seen President Obama lately?

Bush didn鈥檛 look like that. He looked way peppier than he did in his last months in office. He looked healthy (despite the fact that he had a stent inserted in his heart in August).

Leno said he look more relaxed.

鈥淣o kidding. Duh,鈥� said Bush.

His paintings aren't bad.聽Bush discussed his hobby of painting at some length. He said he鈥檇 been inspired to pick up oils and brush by an essay on the subject by Winston Churchill, who himself was a decent amateur artist. Leno showed a Bush painting of Barney the Scottish terrier that was pretty good and another of the aforementioned Bob that showed the cat against a mirror, positioned at an angle, that looked not easy technically聽to pull off.

Bush said he takes painting lessons once a week. He told his teacher, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a Rembrandt inside this body. Your job is to find him.鈥�

He鈥檇 painted a portrait of Leno and presented it on-air. It was recognizable but we'd have to say it wasn't the artist's best work.

His dancing needs work. At the end, Leno showed a clip of Bush dancing with locals in Zambia when he and former first lady Laura Bush were in the country for the promotion of their cancer-fighting initiative and the opening of a clinic they鈥檇 helped refurbish.

鈥淚鈥檓 really sorry you found this,鈥� .

He was game but appeared mostly to be doing that stiff guy dance move where it looks like you鈥檙e dribbling a basketball. At one point, he did a little twist of his, um, former presidential booty that had some uumph and worked from a comic standpoint, if nothing else.

鈥淎 little Miley Cyrus action there, yeah!鈥� said Leno.