Bernie Sanders and Larry David finally met up — appearing together Feb. 6 on “Saturday Night Live” — and things got prettay, prettay Jewish.
In running for the Democratic presidential nod, Sanders has not shied from his doppelganger. He joked with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Feb. 3 that he is, in fact, Larry David, and his campaign has used the comedian’s Sanders impressions for votes and fundraising.
David, a former Seinfeld show-runner and now go-to Sanders impressionist, did three identity-bending turns with the Vermont senator on the SNL.
In the skit “Bern Your Enthusiasm,” a take on David’s HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” David’s Sanders lost the Iowa caucus by a hair’s breadth (as the real Sanders did), because on the last day of voting, he alienated five voters — enough to hand Hillary Rodham Clinton the state.
Sanders and David later appeared together on stage to throw over to the night’s musical guest. Asked by David about his lead going into the New Hampshire primary, Sanders replied with his version of the famous “Curb Your Enthusiasm” line: “It’s pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.”
In light of Sanders’ solid win in New Hampshire on Feb. 9, that’s almost an understatement.
In their final rendezvous of the night, Sanders and David played turn-of-the-20th-century Jewish immigrants on a ship bound for Ellis Island. They sounded and looked alike, down to their outfits.
“I’m Bernie Sanderswitzky,” Sanders’ character said. “We’re going to change it when we get to America so it doesn’t sound so Jewish.”
“Yeah, that’ll trick them,” David’s character replied — a sly nod to Sanders’ reluctance until very recently to speak about his Jewish background and upbringing.