'Well you don't talk about ISIS with a big grin on your face': Hillary Clinton riffs on Republicans telling her to smile more

Hillary Clinton riffed on the double standard she faces on the campaign trail during an appearance on "The Tonight Show" with Jimmy Fallon Friday night.

"When you campaign, I feel like it's so tricky. People kind of want to see this Hillary," Fallon said according to a Reuters report published ahead of the show's airing, "which is the bad ass Hillary and the serious Hillary."

"They want to see someone who's going to protect us and be strong and tough," Fallon added.

Clinton responded:

"It's especially tricky for women. And it just is because you know there's a lot of serious things. The other night I was on a show and being asked about ISIS and Iran and I was serious. These are important issues that the country needs to talk about. And the Republicans were saying, 'Oh she looks so serious'. Well you don't talk about ISIS with a big grin on your face. They're a barbaric, evil group that we have to defeat and wipe out. But it is a constant balancing act. How do you kind of keep the energy and the positive spirit while taking seriously what you need to."

Clinton was referring to NBC's Commander-In-Chief Forum that news anchor Matt Lauer hosted on September 7, where both she and her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, discussed national security.

After Clinton appeared, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted that she had "no smile."

Not the first time

Republican MSNBC host Joe Scarborough similarly told Clinton to "smile" after she won three crucial states in the Democratic primary.

And those are just the two instances that received a substantial amount of press.

A number of women have addressed being told to smile over the last few years, from actresses and activists to politicians and pundits.

"Stop Telling Women to Smile" is a project from artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh that places portraits of women around major cities to draw attention to the street harassment women face every day. It's turned into a movement, with women sharing their own harassment stories across social media.

As a true testament to the cultural ubiquity of the phrase, in an episode of the show "Broad City," Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson reacted to a stranger on the street saying it by pushing their mouths into a smile with their middle fingers.

After Preibus' tweet, Chelsea Handler responded on her Netflix show, "Chelsea."

"Who the f--- are you to tell someone to smile? This is just another example of how men think they can belittle every woman in the world and order up a smile," Handler said.

"You know what, women? We'll smile when Hillary kicks that pneumonia and trounces Trump in November."