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

Kara Swisher 0:00 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

Kara Swisher 0:30 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.

Mike Birbiglia 0:53 (laughs)

Kara Swisher 0:54 So, talk about the- the Harris campaign is funny. Wh- wh-

Mike Birbiglia 0:57 They're funny.

Kara Swisher 0:58 What do you think about their humor? Does it land?

Mike Birbiglia 1:01 I think- I think it's... No, I think it's- it's riding the right line, um-

Kara Swisher 1:05 Tell me how.

Mike Birbiglia 1:06 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

Mike Birbiglia 1:36 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-

Kara Swisher 1:57 Right.

Mike Birbiglia 1:57 ... 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?

Kara Swisher 2:20 Right.

Mike Birbiglia 2:21 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-

Kara Swisher 2:55 They have no sense of humor is my impression.

Mike Birbiglia 2:58 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."

Kara Swisher 3:32 Right, right.

Mike Birbiglia 3:33 That's- that's- that's a human moment.

Kara Swisher 3:35 Right.

Mike Birbiglia 3:35 And-

Kara Swisher 3:35 Or- or, I don't want to take advantage of my age, Reagan was quite good at it, actually.

Mike Birbiglia 3:39 Yes, there you go again, the Reagan line.

Kara Swisher 3:42 Yeah.

Mike Birbiglia 3:42 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.

Kara Swisher 4:01 They do.

Mike Birbiglia 4:01 It's endearing.

Kara Swisher 4:03 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.

Mike Birbiglia 4:16 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.

Kara Swisher 4:31 Yeah, right.

Mike Birbiglia 4:31 And I think that-

Kara Swisher 4:31 She did that. Did you see her do that?

Mike Birbiglia 4:33 And she's good at it. Yeah.

Kara Swisher 4:34 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?

Mike Birbiglia 4:51 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.

Kara Swisher 5:21 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.

Mike Birbiglia 5:45 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.