In a US election cycle of unprecedented absurdity, much of 2016’s best political comedy has simply allowed the candidates to speak for themselves. Satirist Vic Berger regularly takes unedited comments by Donald Trump and amplifies their lunacy with the aid of hyperactive visual editing and the odd airhorn sound effect. Film-maker Mike Diva’s recent viral video Hillary Clinton: Meme Queen satirised the former secretary of state’s desperation to appeal to young voters by having a lookalike instruct them to “Pokémon Go to the polls”. Believe it or not, the line was a direct quote from a recent Clinton stump speech.
Berger and Diva are among the bright sparks over at Super Deluxe, a “community of creative weirdos” responsible for some of the strangest viral hits and video series on the web. Mini Last Meals parodies the current YouTube fad for cooking tiny versions of popular dishes, only with miniature reproductions of serial killers’ final meals. Stoned Mode offers such strangely therapeutic sights as artisanal head shaving, neon sign bending and clowns shooting firearms in the desert. The History Of Butts is exactly what it sounds like.
Central to Super Deluxe’s success, however, is its political content. Since the brand’s relaunch last December, at a time when the presidential primaries were only just beginning to descend into farce, Vic Berger has been on a one-man mission to refit political satire for the Snapchat era. In the vein of Britain’s Cassetteboy, Berger’s work often features no original material whatsoever, instead turning politicians’ own speeches, debate performances and social media efforts against them. A pandering video of Jeb Bush answering a series of tech-themed either-or questions thereby becomes a dead-eyed recitation of Apple’s product line, while one of Donald Trump’s quotidian self-aggrandisements mutates into a boast about his ability to form a clenched fist.
Of late, Berger has stepped in front of the camera to anchor the Vic Berger Election Special, in which he brings the Super Deluxe ethos direct to the Democratic and Republican national conventions. Across 45 glorious minutes, our host strives courageously to pick up his press credentials, has more than one encounter with right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and unsuccessfully schemes to get 60s chart-topper Chubby Checker inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Directed by Tim Heidecker of comedy duo Tim & Eric, the two-part video is every bit as riotous and ridiculous as the election itself. If the most polarised presidential race in a generation isn’t doing much for the state of contemporary political discourse, at least it’s making satire great again.
