Moore wields humour like a weapon
NEW YORK — Things may look bleak for Democrats these days, but Michael Moore thinks he knows how they can get back on top.
“Humour is the non-violent weapon by which we’re going to help turn this around,” said the Academy Award-winning director of Bowling for Columbine who is currently starring in his one-man Broadway show.
“If you use your sense of humour and your wit to go against what’s going on, it can be devastating and it can reach a lot of people.”
Moore has been doing his part in the anti-Donald Trump movement by ridiculing the president, part of what he calls “an unofficial army of comedy out there that is working to bring him down.”
He cites comedians such as Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Alec Baldwin and Stephen Colbert and notes that Melissa McCarthy, in her Saturday Night Live sketches, played a role in the stepping down of Sean Spicer, Trump’s oft-beleaguered press secretary. “I knew Spicer was gone the second after that first sketch was over,” he said Thursday.
Moore has been taking his unhappiness to the streets and promises more. Earlier this week, he led the audience of his show The
Terms of My Surrender in a protest of Trump’s reaction to the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va. Hundreds rallied outside Trump Tower in New York, including Mark Ruffalo, Olivia Wilde, Tom Sturridge and Zoe Kazan.
While Moore’s nightly 90-minute onstage tirade puts his disdain for the president front and centre, he also tackles other hot-button topics, such as the Flint water crisis and race relations. Moore tweaks each performance to address the headlines of the day and plans a dozen upcoming stunts with the audience.
“I’m blessed that I have this forum every night by which to construct a piece of theatre and use the events of that day in the show. I’m very lucky to be able to do that,” he said. “It’s not your typical Broadway experience.”
But Moore, who correctly predicted that Trump would beat Hillary Clinton last November, doesn’ t believe Trump will be forced to cut short his presidency.
“There’s no end of Trump. Quit calling him the ‘Teflon president.’ Teflon implies he’s in the pan. He’s never been in the pan. He’s not going in the pan. And he’s not leaving on his own accord and the Republicans aren’t going to impeach him. So we got a problem.”