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Comedian Jim Gaffigan took a break from playing Tim Walz on Saturday Night Live to joke about the awkwardness of the mix of people in the room at the Al Smith dinner, joking that the seating plan was like something out of Family Feud.
The comedian took no prisoners, Republican or Democrat, in his roast at the New York City charity event on Thursday night, awkwardly pointing out the state’s Attorney General Letitia James sitting just a few feet away from Donald Trump – the man she successfully brought a $454m civil fraud case against.
“You know this seating arrangement is weird, right, I mean, it looks like the plutocrats are about to play Family Feud,” Gaffigan said.
“This room is undeniably impressive, it really is,” he continued.
“The prestige, the wealth, the allegations... Which reminds me, Leticia James is here she had a great year. She’s just back there watching all of you… she’s watching.”
Trump’s face, meanwhile, remained expressionless as James cracked a smile at the mention of her name.
In another particularly uncomfortable moment, which provoked audible gasps from the audience, Gaffigan poked fun at Trump’s false claims of migrants eating pets – as well as his infamous comments about women in the Access Hollyood tape.
“During the first and only debate, President Trump talked about migrants taking cats and eating them,” he said.
“If you’re keeping track at home, this is the second time grabbing a kitty has been part of a campaign issue,” he joked, as Trump awkwardly turned his head to look around the room with a smirk.
Gaffigan continued to spotlight politicians in the room, targeting Robert F Kennedy Jr and embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Addressing the criminal charges Adams faces, Gaffigan joked: “I’d like to also welcome Mayor Adams, brought to you by Turkish Airlines.”
But Trump retaliated by making fun of Gaffigan for playing Tim Walz on SNL when it came to his keynote address.
“Most recently Jim has been playing Tim Walz on SNL,” Trump said. “And that’ll be a very short gig, I hope, Jim. But it was fun while it lasted wasn’t it?”
He also hit back at Kamala Harris and Walz’s absence from the charity event.
“Unfortunately Governor Walz isn’t here himself but don’t worry, he’ll say that he was,” Trump said, a reference to the VP hopeful’s past false claim that he was in Hong Kong during the June 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in China.
“But I must say, I was shocked when I heard that Kamala was skipping the Al Smith dinner,” Trump added. “I’d really hoped that she would come, because we can’t get enough of hearing her beautiful laugh. She laughs like crazy. We would recognize it any place in this room.”
The vice president skipped the star-studded charity dinner to campaign in Wisconsin but appeared via video address instead alongside comedian Molly Shannon, who reprised her “Superstar” Catholic schoolgirl character, Mary Katherine Gallagher.
In the skit, Harris took a swipe at Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election result and brought up his comments calling Detroit “a mess” in a speech at the Detroit Economic Club last week.
