Watch Bernie Sanders play a Brooklyn rabbi in a low-budget rom-com
Sanders in a scene from “My Ex-Girlfriend’s Wedding Reception.” (YouTube)
Most people following the candidates in the 2016 presidential race already know that Ben Carson made a cameo appearance in the 2003 Farrelly brothers’ comedy “Stuck on You,” playing a surgeon who performs an operation to separate conjoined twins Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear.
But Carson’s not the only 2016 candidate who has displayed comedic chops on the big screen.
Bernie Sanders assumed the role of a rabbi in “My Ex-Girlfriend’s Wedding Reception,” a 1999 low-budget romantic comedy starring Debbie Gibson and Dom DeLuise.
The Brooklyn-born Vermont senator, who appears in the trailer, plays Manny Shevitz, a rabbi who bores the guests at a Jewish-Italian wedding while waxing poetic about the Brooklyn Dodgers — and lamenting their move to Los Angeles.
That’s not the only film credit on Sanders’ résumé.
He also made a cameo appearance in “Sweet Hearts Dance,” a 1988 dramedy starring Don Johnson, Jeff Daniels and Susan Sarandon (who has been out campaigning for Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid).
Sanders, who is uncredited, is seen dispensing Halloween candy to children after he was accused of being a bit stingy the year before.
The film was shot on location in Hyde Park, Vt., when Sanders was the mayor of nearby Burlington.
The same year, Sanders recorded a folk album that has been much discussed since he announced his bid for the White House.
All this could be fodder for Larry David, who unveiled his pitch-perfect Sanders impersonation on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” in October and hosts the show later this week.
