Comedians are starting to mock Ron DeSantis. What it means for the 2024 candidate.
Donald Trump spawned a fresh generation of comedians and impersonators who capitalized on his ostentatious disposition and sneering insults.
Now, a crop of humorists are rushing to hone their caricatures of Ron DeSantis, a backhanded affirmation of his national ascendance as he appears to be the most viable alternative to Trump in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Austin Nasso, a 28-year-old comedian and social media influencer, does political impressions for The Howard Stern Show. This spring, as a drumbeat of speculation surrounded DeSantis’ White House candidacy-in-waiting, producers asked Nasso to begin adding the Florida governor to his repertoire.
“I think the tipping point was his war against Disney. It caused a lot of intrigue for comedy bits. Really exaggerating him sending the military to fight Mickey Mouse,” Nasso said. “His cadence is easy to make fun of and within my register.”
Nasso has also been more frequently mimicking DeSantis in short political sketches he posts to Instagram Reels and TikTok, where he has amassed close to 600,000 followers. He describes his caricature of DeSantis as “elongated and nasally.”
“I’m kind of nasally so I think it works. That voice comes easier for me. Nasally, somewhat in the middle register,” he said.
A recent video pokes fun at DeSantis’ controversial effort to recruit and fly migrants who came to the U.S. through the southern border to other states.
“Any migrant that enters Florida will be sent on a helicopter over Beverly Hills, and dropped on Rodeo Drive … We’re launching migrant families out of canons into the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Santa Monica,” Nasso says in the video, which employs a likeness of DeSantis’ face.
In another bit, Nasso inserts DeSantis into a fake presidential debate with Trump and President Joe Biden.
“We are sending the Disney characters to concentration camps,” Nasso says, going to extremes to imitate DeSantis, before portraying him as subservient to Trump.
Matt Friend, another New York-based comedian, has also begun trying his hand at DeSantis, recently unfurling his own impression on Fox’s local television affiliate in Los Angeles.
“I think the free state of Florida shows that we don’t pussy-foot around,” Friend said during an improvised debate with his own rendition of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. “We’re done with the woke mob, these leftist policies that are frankly destroying the country.”
Friend also pokes fun at the confusion around the pronunciation of the governor’s last name and that his wife, Casey DeSantis, is his most significant adviser.
“And by the way it’s DuhSantis or DeSantis, I don’t know, but you can vote in the poll,” Friend said, before turning off set. “Casey, did I do a good job?”
The DeSantis campaign did not respond to an inquiry regarding the impressions and whether they were tracking them.
Presidential impressionists have been around for decades, becoming one of the fixtures of the campaign cycle. Satire can provide comic relief from a prolonged political season.
But with Biden and Trump already well-known and thoroughly parodied, it’s notable that some comedians are taking an opportunity to study DeSantis and elevate him into the cultural zeitgeist.
Saturday Night Live — the most mainstream American comedic program — has taken on DeSantis’ fight with Disney in their “Weekend Update” segment. Even so, they have yet to trot out an impression of him.
“There’s not a lot of people doing it,” Nasso said.
EFFECT OF POLITICAL HUMOR
DeSantis’ entrance into popular internet culture can be read two ways.
On one hand, it signals his rising relevance in a primary campaign that includes 10 other GOP candidates: There aren’t any Nikki Haley or Tim Scott impressionists — at least not yet. On the other hand, most studies of political humor show it having an overwhelmingly negative effect on people’s opinions of the person being parodied.
“Watching the video about Ron DeSantis is going to lower people’s opinions on Ron DeSantis,” said Dr. Jody Baumgartner, a professor of political science at East Carolina University who studies the impact of political humor.
There are caveats to the thesis. Baumgartner said the better known the politician is, the less impact an impersonation has on mass perception. This means that continued impressions of the former president won’t move the dial no matter how funny or prevalent they are.
“The Trump humor won’t have any effect whatsoever. And I mean none,” Baumgartner said.
But DeSantis, who has only been a presidential candidate for just over a month, might be more vulnerable. He is still introducing himself to casual voters who aren’t attuned to the daily machinations of national politics. Thirteen percent of Americans did not have an opinion of him, according to a poll taken this month.
The mediums, of course, also matter.
Nasso and Friend operate largely on social media channels that are consumed by younger people — an estimated 70% of TikTok users fall between age 18 and 34 — whose political views are more malleable and often fleeting.
While their clips earn tens of thousands of views, it’s unclear whether they’ve penetrated the average Republican primary voter.
But Nasso expects to spend more time impersonating DeSantis as the primary campaign increases its intensity later this summer and into the fall as debates begin.
He says he’s not interested in making a political point and prefers to keep his impressions whimsical and outlandish — not polarizing.
DeSantis — still a work in progress both on the political stage and in the development of comedians’ minds — is a more challenging figure to parody than Trump, largely because he’s newer. But a leading indicator of trajectory might just be if Nasso is still doing him in six months — or if he’s moved on to another emerging character.
“I’m going to be on the lookout for more relevant candidates that come into play,” he said.
This story was originally published June 28, 2023 at 1:18 PM with the headline "Comedians are starting to mock Ron DeSantis. What it means for the 2024 candidate.."
