It’s hard to remember, now that nearly 7 in 10 Americans have a negative opinion of Hillary Clinton — and you’d be hard pressed in most parts of America to find someone who’d consider her honest and trustworthy, let alone capable of assuming the top office in the White House with their own best intentions in mind.

But her husband Bill, now reduced to fodder for internet memes, was once an incredibly popular president and leader of the free world.

That popularity, and his cosmopolitan coolness, led him to memorable moments on late night TV throughout the 1990s, but it all started with a spot on Arsenio Hall’s popular late-night comedy show.

The performance went down after Clinton staffer Mandy Grunwald devised a new P.R. strategy revolving around MTV culture in an effort to reach young and minority voters. By the time he stepped on stage in some borrowed Ray-Ban wayfarers in June of ’92, Clinton was trailing incumbent George H.W. Bush by 24 points in the trustworthy department.

Sound familiar?

But audiences loved hi. By the end of his wonderful performance, and the self-deprecating interview with Hall that followed, the 42nd president would enjoy being called the nation’s “first black president.”

And he wore that label proudly.

WATCH: Bill Clinton play the saxophone on Arsenio Hall in June of 1992