Julia Louis-Dreyfus opens night 4 of DNC with jabs at Pence, Trump
Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus kicks off the final night of the Democratic National Convention.
Despite her decades-long career in television comedy, it appears that being a Democratic National Convention emcee was not the right role for Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Louis-Dreyfus, the Emmy-winning actress from hit shows like "Seinfeld" and "Veep," fronted the final night of the DNC after Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross and Kerry Washington handled the first three nights, respectively. But unlike the others, who largely played it straight, Louis-Dreyfus tried to take a more comedic approach to her duties.
Former 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang introduced the actress and the two exchanged banter that included jokes about the pronunciation of Vice President Mike Pence's name -- an apparent allusion to the recent dustup over how to correctly pronounce the first name of Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
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The jokes didn't exactly land among critics.
"Thank God this is the last night of the DNC," Townhall.com's Julio Rosas reacted.
"Is this supposed to be funny? Or is this Julia Louis Dreyfus just making fun of the entire political system and people at conventions trying and failing to be funny by doing a way-too-on-the-nose impersonation?" political strategist Liz Mair asked.
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"The #DemConvention is not a stand-up comedy show," pollster Frank Luntz tweeted. "It’s to teach us about the issues and tell us about the personalities who want to lead us. These are serious times, and they deserve serious commentary."
"Dem twitter is going to just *gush* over Julia and [TikTok personality] Sarah Cooper -- but I wonder how the comedy bits taking easy swipes at 'Poonce' and Trump are faring with that 2016 Trump voter in Oshkosh, Wisconsin who is on the fence about doing it again," McClatchy national political correspondent Dave Catanese wrote.
Things got worse for Louis-Dreyfus, 59, when she cracked a joke following a somber clip of Joe Biden explaining the importance of his faith, especially in the wake of the 2015 death of his son Beau Biden.
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"Just remember, Joe Biden goes to church so regularly that he doesn't even need tear gas and a bunch of federalized troops to help him get there," the actress quipped.
"Joe Biden goes to church so regularly that he doesn't even need tear gas and a bunch of federalized troops to help him get there."
That was in reference to President Trump's controversial June visit to St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington after protesters were forcibly cleared from Lafayette Square so the president could walk to the church from the White House.
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"wow. most tone deaf follow-up to that Biden discussion of faith ever," Roll Call politics editor Herb Jackson reacted.
"that Biden video was pretty great, and then @OfficialJLD making that snarky, flat joke just ruined it. tone deaf. wow," CNN commentator Scott Jennings said before comparing her gig to Clint Eastwood's "empty chair" routine during the "Dirty Harry" actor's remarks at the 2012 GOP convention.
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