Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, has had a massive growth in popularity lately. Part of his support is due to his refreshing political views, but his personality is also part of the reason that he is adored by many. Bernie Sanders recently made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live that has audiences laughing, but he still manages to make some interesting points.
Sanders appeared in a skit on Saturday Night Live alongside Larry David. The sketch starts out with a wrecked cruise ship that is allowing women and children to get into a rowboat first. Larry David has a humorous role as rich man who insists that he should be allowed to evacuate because his life is worth more than all of the crew’s lives put together.
As Sanders enters the scene, the crowd cheers wildly, and Sanders says that he is “so sick of the 1 percent getting this preferential treatment! “Enough is enough! We need to unite and work together if we’re all going to get through this.”
When David’s character grumbles that Sanders’ statement sounds like socialism, Sanders retorts that it is actually democratic socialism, which has a “yuge difference” from typical socialism.
After this statement, the sketch goes on to highlight Sanders’ Jewish heritage, as Sanders states “I’m Bernie SandersWitski,” Sanders said. “But we’re gonna change it when we get to America so it doesn’t sound quite so Jewish.”
This was not the only sketch that Sanders appeared in on Saturday Night Live that evening. Larry David also does an impression of Sanders that is based on Larry David’s show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, which shows David getting into awkward situations that end extremely badly. In Bern Your Enthusiasm, David impersonates Sanders as he repeatedly ends up in uncomfortable situations with his potential supporters.
At one rally in the sketch, a woman coughs in her hand before trying to shake Sanders’ hand. When he refuses because the woman is “germ-infested,” he ends up looking rude and racist, because she is black. In another situation, a Sanders’ supporter asks him to pull her dislocated shoulder back into its socket, but Sanders says “I don’t need your vote that bad, I’m not a shoulder-puller.” Ultimately, the five people end up voting for Hillary, and Sanders loses the Iowa Caucus in David’s sketch.
These hilarious skits show that Sanders has a sense of humor. Though he only played characters which fit in with his own personal views, he still got quite a few laughs from the audience. Larry David’s impersonations managed to be both flattering and silly, so this episode of Saturday Night Live pleased countless Sanders’ fans.