Sean Spicer is not a particularly funny guy, a fact made evident by—well, everything about him, but let’s just go with his running war on Dippin’ Dots, or the fact that he is so wracked with contempt and rage that he eats a fucking pack of gum per day, or the way he approaches press conferences, which are the one essential function of his job, as if he spends the rest of his time in a cage being poked by electrified rods.
Actually, that would explain a lot about the general demeanor of the Trump administration. Spicer shares with fellow Trump frontispiece Kellyanne Conway a skill for lying but lacks her graceful, “the real fake news here” brand of misdirection, instead bluntly lashing out at the reporters who attempt to report around him. Accordingly, the general response to his aggressive lies, mischaracterizations, and Holocaust denials in real life are shocked silences, groans, and exasperated attempts to wrangle some semblance of truth out of him.
But hey, what if everyone just laughed at them?
Sean Spicer’s Netflix Comedy Special from Funny Or Die
Well, in that case, this pasty harbinger of our post-truth era might become instead a pasty harbinger of our post-dinner serving of belly laughs! With his all-American good looks and propensity to garble his words while attempting to evade traditional definitions of reality, Spicer becomes a sort of meta stand-up, subversively challenging our norms of the form. Funny Or Die’s proposed title for a Netflix special, Did I Say Hitler?, gives the press secretary an aw-shucks rebranding to his most infamous gaffe, recalling the feigned innocence of stand-ups like Andy Kaufman and Sarah Silverman while naughtily exploring one of the 20th century’s greatest atrocities.
Perhaps Spicer can co-opt some of this branding in the future. After all, sneaking out of the room mid-set is not the best look for an up-and-comer, but hey, at least the people were hungry for more.