Donald Trump had the opportunity to show off his ability as a showman while hosting ”Saturday Night Live” on Nov. 7. But his boring performance was upstaged by a different presidential candidate, or a parody of one.
The highlight of the show was Larry David, the comedian best known for co-creating “Seinfeld” and his HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” playing crotchety socialist Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who is running for the Democratic nomination.
The show’s cold-open sketch mocked the MSNBC Democratic presidential forum on Nov. 6, in which candidates Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Martin O’Malley sat down and talked—not debated—with moderator Rachel Maddow.
David-as-Sanders stole the whole bit, nailing Sanders’ mannerisms, Brooklyn accent, and grumpy, no-frills populism.
“OK. OK. I don’t need no fancy introduction. I’m not Elvis Presley. Let’s just get on with it,” he started.
On his campaign financing, he declared, “The other candidates, they’re taking millions of dollars from the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil. But not me. I only accept coins. And I’m not talking about fancy coins like dimes and quarters. I just want nickles and pennies, the coins of the middle class.”
He semi-shouted that the coins he wants aren’t the new ones either. He wants the old, gum-caked ones you can hardly read, like the ones you find in your vacuum. “So America, if you believe in Bernie, I need you to go home, open your closet, pull out your vacuum, dump it upside down, and send me all the pennies that fall out of it,” he continued. “That’s right, I’m Bernie Sanders and I want your vacuum pennies.”
David also earned an extra $5,000 during the evening. That was the bounty a Latino organization offered to anyone who would yell out that Trump was a racist during the show. David took the opportunity during Trump’s monologue, though it seemed they had prepared for it beforehand.
Still, true to its word, the group tweeted that Larry David would get the money.