Former presidential contender Andrew Yang and actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus opened the Democratic National Convention on Thursday with comedic banter mocking people who mispronounce Kamala Harris’ name.
The scripted high jinks between Mr. Yang and Ms. Louis-Dreyfus via video-link for the virtual convention feigned their difficulty pronouncing Vice President Mike Pence’s name.
Ms. Louis-Dreyfus, the star of Veep and Seinfeld, kicked off the routine by asking Mr. Yang if he had seen Ms. Harris’s speech Wednesday when she accepted the 2020 Democratic vice presidential nomination.
Yang: It was tremendous! I was so happy for her.
Louis-Dreyfus: I know, me too. She’s fabulous. I cannot wait to see her debate our current vice president, Mika Pints — or is it Paints?
Yang: It is pronounced Ponce, I believe.
Louis-Dreyfus: Oh, some kind of weird foreign name?
Yang: Yea, not very American sounding.
Louis-Dreyfus: Yea, that’s what people are saying. Strongly. Well, thank you, Andrew. And please, give my regards to the Gang.
Yang: I will. They’re right in the next room.
The banter stood in stark contrast to Mr. Yang’s remarks a moment earlier when he bemoaned the crippling economic crisis engulfing America.
“Seventy-two percent of Americans believe this is the worst time we have every experience and 42% of the jobs that have been lost — millions of jobs — will never return. We are in a deep dark hole and we need leaders who will dig us out,” he said. “Our future is now and it is daunting.”
Mr. Yang, who ran on a plan for $1,000-a-month universal basic income, warned of continued pain and despair unless voters send pending Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden to the White House in November.
Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris “understand the problems we now face,” he said.
