Michael Che criticized Democrats for not being prepared ahead of the debates for the upcoming 2020 election when he stopped by Late Night on Wednesday.
After he admitted that he hasn’t watched all the debates, he shared that he purposely watched one just to see Bill de Blasio. “De Blasio’s funny here, but to see the rest of the country reject him just feels like, ‘Oh, it’s not just us, dude. No one likes you,'” he said of the mayor of New York City. “It was great.”
He added that he likes Andrew Yang, though not for his politics. “He wasn’t wearing a tie,” said Che. “He looks like what I think leaders will start looking like, because he’s got that kind of tech thing. Like I want to buy something from him.” Che continued, “He should start every sentence with ‘What if I told you…’ You know, that kind of Steve Jobs-y thing.”
Che later said that he is not impressed with any of the candidates. “It’s rough,” he said. “We’ve had three years. We knew this guy was gonna be president for four years.”
“We should be more prepared and we’re not. That scares me,” he said. “Don’t you think it’s a little weird that we know the next great shortstop by the 10th grade or the next great quarterback when he’s 15 years old? ESPN, they’re tracking this guy. President, we don’t know until a year before and we’re like, ‘Maybe the guy without the tie?'”
Related Stories
Che suggested that the country look for the next president the same way that professional sport leagues scout athletes. “We need a farm system for politicians,” he said. “You wanna be a politician? You wanna be president? You should have to go through a five-year course. It should be like being a Navy SEAL.”
“It should all be, ‘This is the president class,'” he continued after he said that being in Congress is not enough preparation to become president. “Donald Trump can’t just be a Navy SEAL ’cause he’s got good hats. It should be that hard.”
Che then added that he overheard someone say Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson should be the next president. “He can! He absolutely can,” said the comedian. “Hobbs & Shaw is that good.”
The comedian also spoke about the Emmys’ decision to go hostless for the 2019 ceremony. He hosted the 2018 ceremony alongside Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” co-host Colin Jost.
“I think it’s a great idea, honestly,” he said. “People think they want comedy when they don’t.”
“As a stand-up, you get corporate gigs and you get gigs for all types of places, and they think, ‘Oh, then you go out and you do comedy and then we’ll do our awards’ or whatever,” he said. “And it’s never a good idea.”
Che then reflected on performing stand-up at a birthday party at a club. “It was for drug dealers,” he revealed, though he didn’t realize that his audience was full of drug dealers until he got onstage. “I knew the way cops know.” He added that he couldn’t share the dead giveaways because “if I say it, then I’m the bad guy.”
“It went bad, man,” he said of the gig. “Drug dealers do not have a sense of humor. The DJ actually asked me, ‘Hey, do you want me to turn the music off while you’re performing?’ I was like, ‘Yeah,’ and he was bummed.”
More from The Hollywood Reporter
-
![]()
-
Live Feed
‘Dave’ Breakout Tenea Intriago on Playing a Stalker Opposite Brad Pitt and Finding Humanity in Villains
![]()
-
Tupac Shakur
‘Dear Mama’ Director Allen Hughes on Tupac Shakur’s Legacy: “He Lived More in a Day Than Most in a Year”
![]()
-
![]()
-
![]()
-
tom bateman
Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina Couldn’t Stop Laughing While Filming ‘Based on a True Story’: “We Drove People Crazy”
![]()
