February 3, 2016

The glorious acting career of Bernie Sanders.

Here he is in "My X-Girlfriend’s Wedding Reception" — a 1999 romantic comedy:



He plays a rabbi named Manny Shevitz, and from that name I think you can infer the level of cleverness in the comedy.

Sanders is basically giving a speech, so you might think not much acting is involved, but in fact he doesn't milk the comedy material enough to fit the mugging from the actors playing the guests at the wedding.

But you don't need to be a great actor by movie standards to do the kind of acting needed in the presidency. Ronald Reagan was not that fine of an actor, but he played the role of President brilliantly.

Various politicians have done cameos playing themselves in a TV show or movie, and it took a little acting. For example, Condoleezza Rice had to say "'Mars Attacks' is awesome," in this montage. Watch for Michael Bloomberg — he's considering running for President — he's quite good, maybe at the Reagan level.

25 comments:

Michael K said...

With all the white guys in Iowa Monday night, we should congratulate Trump as being the only white guy in the GOP top four finishers..

Amexpat said...

There's always an injustice for Bernie to rail against.

His performance wasn't bad, but Larry David would have been pretty good.

rehajm said...

Is his acting superior to his vocal talents?
He's also a recording artist.

John henry said...

Reagan was a fine actor if judged by career success.lots of films,lots of money.

John Henry

Amexpat said...

@rehajm
Damn, I clicked on your link which has now skewed my recommendations at Amazon.

rhhardin said...

Trump is in Two Weeks Notice (Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant), in an awkward performance as himself. It was a bad idea of the producers that put an unneded brief dead end in the plot.

A favorite romcom otherwise. Hugh Grant does great lines. I wonder why nobody else seems to match him.

Ann Althouse said...

I've listened to those recordings and laughed and laughed.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

"There's always tomorrow, it could be worse." - that should be the Sanders campaign slogan.

Shouting Thomas said...

I loved the article about pre-success Bernie living in a hut with a dirt floor and failing as a local carpenter.

He's really TeePee Bob with a haircut and a suit!

And, I don't say that in a negative way. TeePee Bob is a legendary Woodstock character, a gay white guy who aspires to be an Injun and lived on top of a mountain in a teepee for decades. TeePee Bob didn't even wear shoes in the middle of winter. He made his living doing odd jobs around town. I hired him from time to time.

And, then TeePee Bob's ship came in. He's served a brief stint in the Air Force. After years of searching for him, the government found him and gave him a check for $75,000 for some sort of service related disability. I never got the whole story.

TeePee Bob moved into a hut and now dresses in slick, expensive Injun outfits and wears shoes. He travels out to Arizona or New Mexico to try to get enrolled in an Injun tribe every winter, but the Injuns apparently aren't very found of white guys who want to join the tribe. They make Bob sleep at the gate to the reservation.

I'll bet Meade has a similar rags to riches story!

rhhardin said...

I judge romcoms by how good the best part is. Major missteps are not a problem.

rhhardin said...

Action films are always better if they have a gag reel, a very rare addition to the genre's DVDs.

Hagar said...

The biggest story of this election may be how the Democratic Party wound up with only Hillary! and Bernie for candidates for President and not a peep from anyone else that they were even thinking about it.

And I wonder if this is just because no one thinks 2016 looks very good for a Democrat, or is it also that the Obama White House actively has discouraged anyone from getting ideas about succeeding His Awesomeness.

Hagar said...

Well, if you consider Biden "a somebody" there was a peep, though not for long.

pm317 said...

Bernie Sanders is the most unserious candidate in this election season. Who thinks he can win and more importantly run the country? Where is he getting money for running his campaigns? I don't think it is all the little voters -- we heard that with Obama too, remember? Who is funding his campaign and why? The same people could have picked O'Malley and made him do the scripted teleprompter speeches and maybe even make him win. Why didn't they? Bernie appears to be some kind of check on Hillary, just there to keep her on their track. It is all so disgusting.

tim in vermont said...

I liked him better as Fielding Melish in that thinly disguised biopic, Bananas.

Bernie appears to be some kind of check on Hillary, just there to keep her on their track.

I am all but certain that that is why he ran, force Hillary to defend her left, and he doesn't spend a lot of money. I think just recently he has begun to realize that he might win.

tim in vermont said...

Plus Bernie's guest appearances on the Muppets were always hilarious.

Laslo Spatula said...

For the Love of All that is Good in America, I hope Bernie's Porn Video doesn't come out.

Or Hillary's.

Trump, on the other hand, probably has some Hot Chicks in his.

I would surmise.

I am Laslo.

Big Mike said...

Ronald Reagan was not that fine of an actor

And Bob Dylan can't sing for crap and never could.

Obviously you've never seen "Kings Row" or even "Hellcats of the Navy."

JSD said...

Not very original, but it works really well if you insert Bernie into any Larry David skit.

Bernie: So, is this White House thing nice?
Obama: Yeah, come on. I'll give you a tour.
Bernie: Naw, it's ok.
Obama: No, come on.
Bernie: No, it's ok. I-I get it.
Obama: You get it?
Bernie: Yeah, it's a house. It's white. I get it. It's nice.
Obama: You get it? Ok, you know what? Get the fuck out of my house, Bernie.

John Henry said...

JSD,

Close but it is art imitating real life. See President Obama vs the Transgender. Special award for most consecutive repetitions of the word "no", ever by a president:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w71OGC6Jx9w


THE PRESIDENT: Okay, you know what — no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: President Obama —

THE PRESIDENT: Hey —

AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: Listen, you’re in my house. (Laughter and applause.) You don’t — come on. It’s not — you know what, it’s not respectful when you get invited to somebody —

AUDIENCE MEMBER: President Obama (inaudible).

THE PRESIDENT: You’re not going to — you’re not going to get a good response from me by interrupting me like this.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: President Obama —

THE PRESIDENT: I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

AUDIENCE: Booo —

THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no, no. No, no. No. Shame on you. You shouldn’t be doing this.

AUDIENCE: Obama! Obama! Obama!

THE PRESIDENT: Can we escort this person out? Come on.

You can either stay and be quiet, or we’ll have to take you out. All right, can we have this person removed, please?

THE PRESIDENT: Come on.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: President Obama —

THE PRESIDENT: Come on. Come on. Nope. No. Come on. Come on, guys. I’m just going to wait until we get this done.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible) deportations! No more deportations!

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, where was I? (Laughter and applause.) So as a general rule, I am just fine with a few hecklers — (laughter) — but not when I’m up in the house. (Applause.) You know what I mean? You know, my attitude is if you’re eating the hors d’oeuvres — (laughter) — you know what I’m saying?

John Henry

John Henry said...

I have no agenda, at least not "In the morning" IYKWIMAITYD but if you would be interested in President Obama's No,no,no, etc set to mariachi music, you can find it here:

http://media.phoneboy.com/najingles/ObamaNoNoMariachiLong.mp3

Just another public service. Always happy to help out.

John Henry

William said...

Bernie Sanders could never play the part of a leading man, not even in a sitcom. He's definitely a character actor........Trump could play a Bond villain so give him props for that. So could Cruz, but Trump would be more fun to watch. Rand Paul could handle a leading role. Rubio--not quite the star, but he could be the leading lady's boy friend. Kasich and Bush don't even rise to character actor status. They're extras in the background.

sunsong said...

Thanks for finding that!

Laura said...

So when Mr. Sanders says he's had nothing to do with organized religion, he's technically wrong.

Michael K said...

"I think just recently he has begun to realize that he might win."

I think, as this sinks in, he will start to challenge Hillary. It seems to have already begun.