How Kamala Harris's Campaign is Leaning Into Comedy | Pivot

1. 0:00 – 0:30

   UAW files charges after Trump–Musk X Spaces; Harris campaign seizes the glitch

   1. KSKara Swisher0:00

      The United Auto Workers Union is filing charges against former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk after their conversation on X. During the chat, Trump praised Musk for his anti-union stances, calling him the cutter. I don't know how he came up with that. While Trump and Elon have boasted the conversation reached, quote, "A billion users," X has not disclosed any monetary information or ad buys surrounding the arrangement with the Trump campaign. I mean, the X space started out about 45 minutes late, for people who don't know, due to technical difficulties, which Musk blamed on an attack. The Harris campaign wasted no time in making

2. 0:30 – 1:01

   The Harris campaign’s snarky social voice: punching up without overreaching

   1. KSKara Swisher0:30

      fun of the situation and putting out a statement saying, "Trump's entire campaign is in the service of people like Elon Musk and himself, self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a live stream in the year 2024." Um, also, the campaign, which is doing really well, has put out a statement, I don't know who's doing their social media, saying it's been zero days since JD Vance insulted women across the country.

   2. MBMike Birbiglia0:53

      (laughs)

   3. KSKara Swisher0:54

      So, talk about the- the Harris campaign is funny. Wh- wh-

   4. MBMike Birbiglia0:57

      They're funny.

   5. KSKara Swisher0:58

      What do you think about their humor? Does it land?

3. 1:01 – 1:36

   Why political comedy is harder now: no shared ‘setup,’ no reliable punchline

   1. MBMike Birbiglia1:01

      I think- I think it's... No, I think it's- it's riding the right line, um-

   2. KSKara Swisher1:05

      Tell me how.

   3. MBMike Birbiglia1:06

      So, I- I think in comedy, it- typically a joke has a setup and a punchline. And- and the setup is something that we all agree to be true, and the punchline is a left turn that we don't see coming. And I think the problem with political comedy, in everything year 2016 on, is that we don't all agree on what is true. And so- so in other words, if there are no setups, there can be no punchlines. Or- or I should say, it's

4. 1:36 – 1:57

   Avoid jokes that depend on ‘liberal media’ claims—Trump supporters won’t buy the premise

   1. MBMike Birbiglia1:36

      very hard to come by a punchline. So, I think that the wrong move comedically with- with the Trump folks is to say things that the liberal media, which they believe is liberal and- and biased and is not giving them the truth about Donald Trump, um, is, uh, they- they don't buy it-

5. 1:57 – 2:21

   Lean into ‘seen with our own eyes’ moments: inherited wealth and obvious tech failures

   1. KSKara Swisher1:57

      Right.

   2. MBMike Birbiglia1:57

      ... and so it can't be a setup, right? So- so in other words, like if you bring up the lawsuits a lot, they'll go, "Well, that's just a hit job. The lawsuits are a hit job," whatever. And ............................ Right. However, I just think there's a few vulnerabilities in the Trump universe, which is, we all know he inherited $400 million, right?

   3. KSKara Swisher2:20

      Right.

6. 2:21 – 2:58

   Don’t mock the voters: persuasion fails when humor becomes contempt

   1. MBMike Birbiglia2:21

      Um, we all- we all saw with our own eyes that there were tech glitches in the Zoom thing or, you know, whatever the- the Elon thing is. Uh, Twitter, the X thing. And so as much as it- as- as- as Kamala's team can play in the moment with things that we all can see with our own eyes, I think that's gonna be a winning strategy. I think the other thing is, we can't... Like, I think you cannot make fun of Trump's voters because, you know, you have family who are Trump voters, I have family who are-

   2. KSKara Swisher2:55

      They have no sense of humor is my impression.

7. 2:58 – 3:42

   What debate ‘zingers’ have in common: light touch and human moments

   1. MBMike Birbiglia2:58

      Well, yeah, I mean, no- no sense of humor is one thing, but the other thing is they're smart. My dad's a doctor who has a law degree. He's not unintelligent. So, if you just insult his- him over and over again, I- I- you're not gonna get anywhere. If you look at all the- the zingers, the famous zingers in history in the debates, it's these really light touches. It's like- it's like that Bush-Gore moment where Gore walks too close to Bush Jr., and then- and then Bush sort of steps away, and you kind of go like, "I know what he means."

   2. KSKara Swisher3:32

      Right, right.

   3. MBMike Birbiglia3:33

      That's- that's- that's a human moment.

   4. KSKara Swisher3:35

      Right.

   5. MBMike Birbiglia3:35

      And-

   6. KSKara Swisher3:35

      Or- or, I don't want to take advantage of my age, Reagan was quite good at it, actually.

   7. MBMike Birbiglia3:39

      Yes, there you go again, the Reagan line.

   8. KSKara Swisher3:42

      Yeah.

8. 3:42 – 4:16

   Kamala’s laugh as an asset: turning an attack into warmth and likability

   1. MBMike Birbiglia3:42

      And it's like... And- and I think as much as Kamala can be in the moment 'cause she's extraordinarily funny, she's extraordinarily... I mean, her laugh is infectious. I mean, it's hilarious that Trump has gone after her laugh because you go, "No, no, you moron." People like when people laugh.

   2. KSKara Swisher4:01

      They do.

   3. MBMike Birbiglia4:01

      It's endearing.

   4. KSKara Swisher4:03

      She's turned it around 'cause they- they... For a while, they were sort of pointing to something. It was a little out, you know, it was more... It was a- it was a laughier laugh than other laughs, right? But she's turned it, they've turned it into something lovely, actually, which I think is interesting.

9. 4:16 – 4:34

   Comedy’s heckler rule applied to politics: honest, in-the-moment responses

   1. MBMike Birbiglia4:16

      Yeah, I think... I mean, I think they're on the right path. I think- I think the, uh, the key is, I think there's like a famous line about dealing with hecklers, which is the best thing you can do with a heckler is respond honestly in the moment.

   2. KSKara Swisher4:31

      Yeah, right.

   3. MBMike Birbiglia4:31

      And I think that-

   4. KSKara Swisher4:31

      She did that. Did you see her do that?

   5. MBMike Birbiglia4:33

      And she's good at it. Yeah.

10. 4:34 – 5:21

    JD Vance as a ‘comedy goldmine’—and the limits of caricature

    1. KSKara Swisher4:34

       She was good. She had the, "I'm the aunt who's going to take out the slipper in a second and hit you with it," kind of vibe, which I thought was good. When you do these humorous things, like JD Vance is obviously... We're going to talk about him later with a question from the audience, but he's- he's been like a comedy goldmine, correct?

    2. MBMike Birbiglia4:51

       Uh, yeah, I mean, I don't know what to make of this guy. He... I liked his book and, you know, in 2017 or whatever it was, and then I don't- I don't feel like I'm watching... When I- when I watch JD Vance now, I don't feel like I'm watching the same person who wrote that book. And so I just... I think he has a voice problem. I feel like in- of- of, uh... In other words, like, his... I don't understand where he's coming from.

11. 5:21 – 6:34

    Why calling them ‘weird’ works: deflation instead of moralizing

    1. KSKara Swisher5:21

       Is there a fun- the funniest member of this group? And- and how much is too far? I'm just... I'll finish up with this, but when you're... When- when she's doing this, it seems to have a very loose sense of humor. It's not... I mean, the- the "weird" word has worked beautifully. I'd love to get your sense of why that works, 'cause it's funny. It's actually, "weird" is funny, versus deplorables or any other words that Hillary used and stuff, which, who wasn't funny.

    2. MBMike Birbiglia5:45

       I think that- I think that Democrats and myself included, like there- there's a big- there's a big talking point on the right, which is that there's Trump derangement syndrome. You've heard this concept? And what's funny about it is, I think it's a good talking point because, for them, because I think in 2016 or '15 when he came on the scene, it did throw a lot of people off, and we were kind of breathless, myself included, on Twitter about every last thing he said. And I think that the only way to deal with him is with facts and composure. And I think that the Harris campaign is doing a really good job of that so far.

Episode duration: 6:34