Bernie Sanders and Larry David appear together, finally, on 'SNL'
Bernie Sanders took a quick break from the campaign trail in New Hampshire to travel to New York City to dispel a rumor that’s been dogging his 2016 presidential bid: That he is actually comedian Larry David.
The Vermont senator and Democratic hopeful appeared side by side in a sketch with David on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” proving once and for all that Sanders and David are, in fact, two different people.
The pair played passengers aboard a sinking cruise ship, with David arguing that his personal wealth should entitle him to a seat alongside the women and children in the lifeboat.
“Hold on! Hold on! Wait a second! I am so sick of the one percent getting this preferential treatment!” Sanders said, repeating a common refrain from his stump speeches. “Enough is enough! We all need to unite if we’re going to get through this!”
“Sounds like socialism to me,” David quipped.
“Democratic socialism,” Sanders shot back.
Earlier in the show, David revived his Sanders impersonation — and his own “Curb Your Enthusiasm” character — in the pretaped spoof “Bern Your Enthusiasm.”
In it, David’s Sanders stumbles into a series of Larry David-style predicaments, like not shaking the hand of a woman on the rope line after a rally because she had just sneezed into it.
For David, who was a writer on “Saturday Night Live” in the mid-1980s, it was his first time hosting “SNL" — and third time doing his Bernie Sanders impersonation, a role some critics have said was tailor-made for him.
Later, Sanders helped David introduce the evening’s musical guests, The 1975.
"How are things going up in New Hampshire?” David asked his muse before the band came out.
“O.K.,” Sanders said.
“Just O.K.?” David asked.
“Well, it’s pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good,” Sanders replied.
Sanders, who flew from Manchester, N.H., to New York on Saturday afternoon, returned to the Granite State early Sunday morning.
In an interview that aired on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Sanders insisted he never saw a similarity between himself and the "Seinfeld” co-creator.
“I admired him, I loved his television show,” Sanders said. “But no. I did not make the connection between Larry David and myself.”
The Vermont senator has appeared on numerous late night shows since announcing his candidacy, but had yet to appear on “Saturday Night Live.” Sanders’ Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, has appeared on “SNL” several times, most recently in October.
On ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” Sunday, she was asked how she thought Sanders did.
“Well, I didn’t get to see it, but it’s always a fun experience,” Clinton said. “I’m sure he did great. You know, it’s a wonderful forum. It’s a crash course in trying to figure out how to do live TV. And I had a great time doing it.”
