Funny!
Photo: Comics for Kamala via YouTube
At about one hour and 58 minutes into the Comics for Kamala fundraiser, Cecily Strong showed up, fired off some roast jokes with Representative Eric Swalwell, expressed support for Kamala Harris, and left the call. For those two minutes, the call managed to seem both fun and au courant. For once, cringe left the convo. The fundraiser had more than a smidge of “Pokémon Go to the polls!” energy. Ben Stiller said, “It’s beautiful when she laughs.” Kathryn Hahn claimed, “It’s been Kamala all along.” Nick Offerman sang a parody of “God Bless the USA.” John Stamos appeared alongside Matt Friend, who was doing an impression of Howard Stern. This is all fine and good, but, y’know, don’t show it to your Gen-Z cousin or her skin will crawl and suddenly, voting won’t seem as exciting as it once did.
“J.D. Vance is confusing because his rhetoric wants us to panic about immigrants, but his eyeliner wants us to panic at the disco,” Strong said early on in the segment. Strong, a Saturday Night Live alum, wrote the jokes with current and former SNL “Weekend Update” writers Katie Rich, Josh Patten, and Pete Schultz. Strong notably appeared on “Update” in 2021 as Goober the Clown to Trojan Horse in a discussion of abortion, and her jokes here reflected her long-standing reproductive-rights advocacy: “There is speculation that Trump is unhappy with Vance and is thinking about getting rid of him, but he better hurry because it’s been six weeks.” It’s funny, it exists in the context what came before, and most of all, it’s barbed in a way that’s reflective of the meaner, savvier campaign that Harris is running.
Strong’s roast carries momentum from The Roast of Tom Brady, which was a huge hit for Netflix and gave Nikki Glaser a boost. With Comedy Central in cultural hell (basic cable), its last roast being the 2019 one of Alec Baldwin, it’s been a long time since a roast permeated the mainstream. Now, it’s back in a world where a now-VP pick called his opponents “weird.” No more going high. We’re going Don Rickles low.
