One memorable moment during the Democratic National Convention seemed to me to have all the elements of a classic New England joke – you know, the kind where a farmer, a flatlander and maybe a chicken encounter one another by the side of the road? Throw in a little stand-up comedy for good measure, and you have comedian Sarah Silverman, a New Hampshire native supporting Brooklyn-born Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and sharing a podium with Minnesota Senator Al Franken to stump for a woman who currently lives in New York.
Silverman grew up in New Hampshire, so it’s not surprising that she’s developed both a biting sense of humor and an interest in politics. After all, we New Hampshirites are famously independent – especially when it comes to politics. We say what we think, and we’re unafraid to touch that third rail – just like Silverman in her comedy about race, religion, and women. So I wasn’t surprised to hear that she’d actively supported the independent senator from an equally independent neighboring state.
Silverman spent one season as a writer and cast-member on Saturday Night Live before she was fired – and became a very successful comedy star. Podium-mate Al Franken is another SNL alum; Silverman had managed to stab him in the head with a pencil during their SNL days. But the two were congenial at the convention.
After jokingly telling Franken to get out of her frame, Silverman quipped that she was inspired by Hillary Clinton becoming a presidential candidate, since “Just a few years ago she was a secretary…”
But then Silverman took a serious tone, thanking Sanders for getting the presidential race to focus on campaign finance reform, affordable healthcare, and education; saying “he made us understand what is possible and what we deserve.”
Silverman also made it clear she didn’t fine some of the primary antics funny - like name-calling, comments about the size of a candidate’s hands or ethnicity or how much they sweat. “That stuff is for third graders,” she scolded. And while she insisted that she’d felt the Bern so bad she’d put cream on it, she also called out the “Bernie or Bust people” for “being ridiculous.”
Comedian Stephen Colbert later said it was the first time he’d ever seen a comedian heckle the audience – instead of the other way around.
