Washington Post political reporter Ben Terris provided the latest puff piece to the Democrats on the top of Friday’s Style section – which inspired more puffery on CBS Friday morning. “COMEDIANS ARE FEELING THE BERN,” blasted the headline in all caps. “Why has the most humorless presidential candidate garnered mad support from the normally apathetic stand-up scene?”
Guess what? The “cool kids” are loving the scrappy socialist. Terris begins at a “dingy bar” in Brooklyn where a fundraiser for Sanders features comedians joking about “sex, pedophilia, social anxiety and pubic hair.” The Sanders campaign has thrown little “Stand Up for Bernie” events in New York, Boston and Los Angeles. His website “lists Will Ferrell and Margaret Cho as supportive artists.”
Can one imagine the demands for accountants who will rearrange the receipts of the Will Ferrells when President Sanders doubles the tax rate on the wealthy? Terris then helpfully arranged the testimonials. Is this a news story, or an advertisement? A reader could be confused:
“Not only was Bernie fighting for civil rights in the ’60s, he was also fighting for gay marriage in the ’80s, he was against the Iraq war, against deregulation of Wall Street that led to the 2008 collapse — and, most importantly, against the breakup of Destiny’s Child,” Sarah Silverman said, introducing him at a rally in California in August.
“I want @BernieSanders to quietly walk out onto this stage and five-point-palm-exploding-heart all these hollow beasts,” Patton Oswalt tweeted while watching a Republican debate.
So why exactly are some of the funniest people in the country supporting the most humorless candidate?
“I think it’s that comedians are hyper-attracted to truth without spin and being able to communicate it well on stage,” said James Adomian, who deploys a near-perfect Sanders impression at TV gigs and fundraisers.
The Washington Post would like its readership all around the nation’s capital to know it’s the socialist scold who defines “truth without spin.” That quote was splashed on the front page, as a caption underneath the half-page picture of Bernie. Conservatives should have read this before breakfast. Urp. By that principle, the comedians should hate both Clintons.
At story’s end, Janeane Garofalo pops up, to mock the looks of Chris Christie. Wait, Janeane Garofalo is mocking someone else’s appearance?
“There’s a scent in the air of activism, idealism, student loan debt,” she said to cheers before going into a bit about how fat Chris Christie is. “If he was on Say Yes to the Dress, they would say, ‘Embrace your curves, Chris!’?” She added: “I would never take ad hominem shots on people’s looks if they had a moral compass.”
Asked later if she thought Sanders had such a moral compass, or if she was one of the folks to just show up for the comedy, she bristled — and perhaps unwittingly channeled her candidate’s sense of humor-free indignation.
“Of course I support Bernie,” she said, leaving quickly for another show. “How dare you?”
Terris end.
