Comedian compares election to Thankgiving meal
PAUL VIRZI CHATS ABOUT THE POLITICAL DIVIDES, CRAZY UNCLES AND THANKSGIVING MELEES
People are feeling stressed as the presidential election gets closer, so we decided to ask comedian Paul Virzi to weigh in on how things are going. His response — a burst of laughter.
“Oh, you’re trying to get me in trouble here,” he said, on the phone. “I’m definitely somebody who is in the middle and I’m a registered independent. I think the far left and the far right are both completely the problems,” Virzi said. “You watch Fox News and you get angry, then you watch CNN and you get angry. It’s the same for either side, it’s basically the same channel, except depending on which side you’re on. I try to find the medium there. I just want things to be OK. I want people to get back to work. I obviously want to get back to work in a better environment. I know a bunch of comedians do.”
Virzi, who lives in Westchester County, N. Y., said what he’d really like is for everyone to be happy.
“This may sound corny, but I saw something today that I posted, where a guy was holding a Biden flag and another guy was holding a Trump flag and they leaned over and they were shaking hands while they were holding the flags. That’s what it should be — it should be one of your crazy uncles yelling at your other crazy uncle at Thanksgiving, but everybody laughs it off. And one is on one side and the other is on the other side but we go back to eating and it’s fine,” he said.
“Except now it’s like somebody wants to take the wishbone out of the turkey and stab the other one in the neck, so it turns into something crazy. There’s food flying everywhere, there’s an aunt or a mother crying and that’s what it is. I don’t like that. I don’t like how the country is divided.” So, is there a solution?
“I don’t know what it’s gonna take to get better, but I don’t think the election is gonna make it better. I think the way people treat each other is gonna make it better — people ultimately treating each other decently, whichever side of the aisle you’re on,” he said.
“I kind of want this election to come and go as peacefully as possible and get back to life.”
Virzi has some shows at Mohegan Sun just after it’s over, in case you need an escape. He’ll be there Thursday, Nov. 5 - Saturday, Nov. 7.