Hutzell: Can presidents and generals be funny? They try at the Naval Academy.

Barack Obama is a great speaker.

So, when the former president addressed the Naval Academy class of 2013, he teased them as a way to warm up the crowd.

“Now, I know that some think of this as just a small engineering school on the Severn,” he said at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. “You’ve not only met its rigorous standards, you’ve helped this academy earn a new distinction — the No. 1 public liberal arts school in America.”

Cue the polite applause. Even before the current warrior ethos in command, the academy doesn’t consider itself a home of poets and historians.

Obama had another one. The graduating mids scaled the famed Herndon monument at the end of their freshman year in an astounding two minutes and five seconds.

That’s because the superintendent ordered the famous grease removed for safety.

“Now that they put the grease back on, no one will ever match your time,” Obama said.

There were a few laughs from the crowd, but Obama’s chuckle at his own wit was the most audible reaction.

“Heh-heh,” he said.

The class of 2029 will walk into Navy-Marine Corps Memorial on Friday, eager to get on with things. They’ll get their diplomas and commissions, then head off to careers in the Navy, Marine Corps and other services.

First, they must endure the time-honored tradition of being bored by a visiting grandee. This year’s speaker is Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs.

All graduation speakers talk about duty and honor, the dangers awaiting graduates and the challenges they’ll face. Levity is always attempted.

“I know that I am one of the very last things standing between you and your commission and diploma,” Vice President JD Vance said last year. “And so, out of respect, I just want you to know that this is only going to be a 3 1/2- or four-hour speech.”

Mids are good sports about this. They know to laugh when the bosses make a joke.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as Navy secretary and the only four-term president, attended more academy commencements than any other occupant of the White House. He knew the dangers.

“The only time I disgraced myself was, I think, during the World War,” he said on June 2, 1938. “Because of the strenuous work in the Navy Department, I was a bit in arrears on sleep.”

The ceremonies were held at Bancroft Hall then, and it was 100 degrees, FDR recalled. Seated among admirals and generals, he listened to the speeches drone on as his eyes slowly closed.

“I think indeed that my mouth fell open. I slept ungracefully but soundly, directly in front of the eyes of the entire graduating class. Could anything be more un-military, more humiliating and, at the same time, more completely satisfactory?”

Roosevelt was one of a handful of presidents with Navy ties. John F. Kennedy, who served as a PT boat commander in World War II, spoke there on Aug. 1, 1963.

He offered career advice in the form of a story about a young sailor who watched a lieutenant go into his office every morning, pull out a piece of paper, look at it and then return it to his desk.

Kennedy said the lieutenant became the youngest captain, admiral and commander in chief in history before dying of a heart attack. Curious, the sailor retrieved the paper to see if it could help him.

“And it said, ‘Left-port; right-starboard,’” Kennedy deadpanned.

“If you can remember that, your careers are assured!”

Jimmy Carter was the only academy grad elected president. When he returned to Annapolis on June 7, 1979, he understood what the mids were thinking as he began his speech.

“We had a distinguished speaker, Adm. Chester Nimitz,” Carter said. “As will be the case with you, I don’t remember a word he said.

“My one hope was that the graduation services would be brief. As will be the case with you, I was disappointed.”

Carter was followed by Ronald Reagan, known as a great communicator, in part because he could get his ideas across in such a likeable way that even political enemies often found themselves laughing.

He reminded the mids on May 22, 1985, that they were the first class to enter the academy during his presidency, so they were finishing their four years together.

“Now we’re both about ready for the real stuff. One thing bothers me, though. I still seem to be climbing that greased monument, and you only had to do it once, three years ago.”

Trump gave the commencement address on May 25, 2018, and the fact check that followed may have been the funniest bit.

“We just got you a big pay raise. First time in 10 years.”

Nope.

“Very soon, you’re going to have 355 beautiful ships — 355. That’s almost a couple hundred more ships.”

It was 80 more, but close.

“We have ended the disastrous defense sequester. No money for the military, those days are over.”

Made it up.

To be fair, fact-checking Trump is the easy part of covering his second administration.

Yet his unique speaking style can get laughs.

“Our country cannot prevail without those who rally to Admiral Farragut’s famous cry — you know it well — ‘Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.’

“Boom.

“Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.”

If I were invited to speak to a graduating class, I know I couldn’t do as well as any of the presidents, admirals and appointed potentates who send the young out with forgettable words year after year.

Commissioning ceremonies are for the mids and their families. It’s not the right setting for policy addresses or world-shattering pronouncements.

So to the class of 2026, good luck.

The world is a place fraught with peril, at home and abroad. May your commanders lead you wisely and well.

I hope your careers are honorable, and your decision to wear the uniform gives you the satisfaction you seek.

Thank you for the service you are about to give.