Tuesday night’s Democratic debate on CNN gave America one of its first big opportunities to spend some quality TV time with outspoken democratic-socialist Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who has been giving presumed front runner Hillary Clinton a more-spirited-than-expected challenge for their party’s nomination. Many viewers likely spent that time wondering, “Where exactly have I heard that guy’s voice before? I know I’ve heard that raspy, cranky intonation somewhere else! But from whom?” The answer might well be Larry David, the eternally dissatisfied, constantly complaining writer and actor who co-created Seinfeld and inspired George Costanza before starring in his own HBO vehicle, Curb Your Enthusiasm, as a fictionalized version of himself. Already, a viral video has pointed out the vocal similarity between Sanders and Larry David’s portrayal of George Steinbrenner on Seinfeld. And now, editor Dominick Nero has toppled the final Larry David domino with a Curb/debate mashup entitled—what else?—“Bern Your Enthusiasm.”
While he admits that the Bernie Sanders/Larry David comparisons are nothing new, Nero says that he was surprised a full-fledged Curb parody such as this had not already been done yet.
I found myself surprised that nobody cut a video together like this. Bernie’s mannerisms, his red-faced argumentative style, and even his fluffy white hairline match the Curb Your Enthusiasm star so much that, when paired with the appropriate soundtrack, Bernie almost seems too Larry to be true.
Naturally, the soundtrack to which Nero refers contains Luciano Michelini’s instantly recognizable “Frolic,” which lends to a comedic air to Sanders’ half-flustered, half-impassioned responses to Anderson Cooper’s tricky questions about capitalism and gun control. While Nero says that “Bern Your Enthusiasm” is not meant as a political statement, it does serve as “an ominous reminder that, like Larry David in Curb, Bernie Sanders is… by no means the perfect candidate.” Which is exactly the kind of statement that would send Larry David’s blood pressure shooting up.