John Oliver returned to Last Week Tonight from his customary end-of-summer hiatus only to find more evidence of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s bad behavior. A resurfaced clip from Vance’s 2022 U.S. Senate campaign showed him “flop-sweating through some shitty jokes about Kamala Harris,” Oliver said.
Speaking to Ohioans during a campaign stop two years ago, Vance wondered aloud about a potential President Harris should Joe Biden step down and first tried insulting the current VP about her laugh, saying: “who I’ve heard called ‘Cackela Harris,’ because she has this weird cackle, right?” The audience provided no response in return.
Nevertheless, he persisted.
“But I heard a joke about Kamala that I thought was pretty funny recently. That, you know, Bill Clinton was watching her on TV, and Bill thought, ‘You know, man, she’s just so condescending. She’s mean-spirited. She’s kinda nasty. Maybe I should leave my wife and marry her instead.’” The “joke” elicited groans and boos from his audience.
Oliver, on the other hand, was giddily ready to offer some advice to Vance. “Look, JD. Comedian to comedian,” he said. “Never make the set-up: I heard a joke that I thought was pretty funny recently. But if you do, make sure that what you say next is funny, and also, an actual joke.”
Donald Trump and Vance, according to Oliver, “are lots of things. They’re misogynists, narcissists, men who cum dead silent, plausible Masked Singer contestants. But they are also deeply weird,” Oliver said, echoing Democratic talking points. “And each day seems to bring new evidence of Vance failing to connect with ordinary Americans.”
Among other notable moments for the Republican vice presidential pick, Vance has called firefighters “haters” for booing him, made awkward small talk with the workers at a doughnut shop, and went viral once more after he attempted to shake the hand of someone offering him a fist bump.