Tonight I was a front row witness to a great debate: Donald Trump vs. Bernie Sanders.
Being in San Francisco, the audience vocally supported Sanders’ ideas to completely overhaul our social constructs, and booed basically anything Trump said.
And I wanted everyone to shut. the. heck. up.
Because here’s the thing: this was a PARODY debate.
Donald Trump was comedian Anthony Atamanuik in white eye shadow, and Bernie Sanders was the amazing James Adomian in a real bad wig.
What a strange experience this was. With my brand of humor, I tend to find myself amongst fellow fans of a very niched comedy. They know how to behave in a comedy performance: you keep quiet except when you need to laugh or, on special occasions, laugh-cry.
But tonight, people were actually applauding the politics.
Perhaps it was the same psychology that drives SNL viewership during election years. Perhaps it was that Trump and Sanders are two people that very well could change our country (for better or worse). But it was universally annoying as you-know-what.
Atamanuik/Trump handled it best. Whenever people booed his “policies,” or his comments on Megyn Kelly’s uterus, he would say things like, “I don’t understand why you’re calling this out now. Are you just finding out about this? You’re about 6 months late to the party.”
People, when you go to a comedy event, please just sip your drink and laugh. No one is going to pull you on stage and celebrate how funny you are. They are going to tell you to shut up or get out. And you won’t even get to finish your well drink.