Now that Larry David has appeared twice on SNL “impersonating” Bernie Sanders, it’s time to face the facts: while his shtick may be funny in places, it’s not a good caricature. It’s mostly playing off of stereotypes of what Jews call an “alter kacker” — an “old fart” — that have little to do with Bernie’s actual traits.
While I support Bernie, I’m not offended by this as a Bernie supporter. I’m offended by this as a fan of political impressions. Let him be lampooned, sure — but make it incisive!
(Note: for those of you who really are going to boycott SNL over having Trump host — you’re right, I’m wrong, no disagreement intended. But while the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.)
David’s “Sanders” is, for the most part, a lazy portrayal. True, he gets at Bernie’s being on the grumpy side — although, unlike the real Sanders, David’s “Sanders” doesn’t seem aware of it. David’s shtick is to play Sanders as someone who rambles on in disconnected ways to absurd (even arguably senile-seeming) ends — like the “kayak” story from last night — which is just not something that Bernie does. So it becomes just a generic “old Jewish guy” character that one might have seen from Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm, rather than a caricature that exaggerates some of Sanders’s traits to comedic degrees.
Good examples of the latter include Tina Fey’s “word salad” portrayal of “Sara Palin”; Darrell Hammond’s cool, slick, scheming, and sometimes slavering “Bill Clinton”; and, yes, Kate McKinnon’s caricature of Hillary Clinton as a power-drunk panderer frightened of any misstep. (“Am I losing?) You don’t have to agree with the premises of these exaggerated impressions to see that they are getting at some underlying character traits that ground them as being something about the particular person rather than about the generic type.
One line from last night that was funny without being insightful was David’s “my youngest grandchild is so cute — he just turned 40.” The payoff: Sanders is old. Does it play on anything else about Sanders? Does he come across in real life as clueless or deluded? Some might say — though I would disagree — that he comes off as clueless about policy; that’s the only basis I can imagine for justifying David’s portrayal. If that’s supposed to be the joke, then really go for it — like the new leftist dictator in Bananas declaring that the official language of his Latin American country would henceforth be Swedish. As it is — to quote David’s “Sanders” — mneh.
We will likely see a whole lot of David’s “Sanders” over the next few months — and perhaps for the next year (or even beyond!) If he’s going to be the target of political humor, fine and good! But make it more than merely funny. Make it smart.
It not only can be done: it HAS been done. I’m no longer sure how to embed videos under this new contraption, but here’s a link to a story featuring James Adomian of the Upright Citizens Brigade as Sanders. I won’t argue that it’s necessarily funnier than David’s version — but it’s definitely more political and definitely more actual Bernie.
David, like his former writing partner Jerry Seinfeld, can be very funny in lots of different ways and genres. Political humor, though, has not usually been one of them. Each of them is fundamentally not interested in it. So if this is what we’re going to get if we (wrongly) agree that David’s Sanders impression is “spot-on,” then those of us who love political humor are going to have to agitate for something better. We’re going to have to tell Larry David (and Lorne Michaels) that we want our political satire bespoke, rather than just off the rack.
Who’s with me on this? We can, and should, and must, and may, and will, and should, and can, make this happen — because the quality of our future entertainment depends on it!
(That last paragraph is funnier, by the way, if you imagine Bernie saying it in his accent.)