What: “Resistance Grifters,” an incisive, brutal parody of the #Resistance anti-Trumpers Brian and Ed Krassenstein–notorious for responding to President Trump’s tweets with earnest comments and a widely mocked children’s book about Ronald Plump–and everyone just like them.
Who: Comedy writing team Nick Ciarelli and Bradford Evans, who landed on Vulture‘s list of 20 Comedians You Should and Will Know in 2017.
Why we care: If the Krassensteins were able to view this sketch, they would probably hate it. As it happens, the two were recently booted off of Twitter in May for allegedly using fake accounts to boost their following, and thus are unable to view anything on the platform. Were they able to view this sketch, though, what the two would see is a devastating evisceration of their entire schtick.
Brian and Ed Krassenstein emerged seemingly out of nowhere after the 2016 election, using big pyramid-scheme energy to turn themselves into lightning rods of Trump-based outrage. Over the last couple years, they had built up massive audiences (925k and 697k followers, respectively) through their singular ability to lob “Have You No Decency, Sir”-style rebukes at Trump, simply aghast whenever the Muslim-banning Birther-in-Chief behaves uncouthly. By appealing to West Wing-weaned boomers, the Krassensteins attempted to leverage their Twitter following into a revenue stream via an underfunded Patreon and perhaps the most-mocked children’s book in recent memory, the one that portrayed Robert Mueller as a ripped patriotic superhero in Chippendales gear. They were an insufferable pair, and Twitter is better off without them. On the bright side, at least they left the inspiration for a hilarious sketch in their wake.
In “Resistance Grifters,” LA-based comedy writers Ciarelli and Evans nail everything that make the Krassensteins–and those of their ilk–such worthy targets for satire. They mock the duo’s ill-informed expertise, juvenile fantasia, reliance on homophobia as a means to take Trump down a peg, and ultimately the nagging impression that there’s no there there–that the Krassensteins would be just as comfortable swapping ideological sides if they thought there was more money in it.
Have a look at the sketch below, and delight in the knowledge that on Twitter, at least, Brian and Ed cannot.
Resistance Grifters by me and @bradfordevans pic.twitter.com/MFyASuHLcv
— nick ciarelli (@nickciarelli) June 5, 2019
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