Seth Meyers booked Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as his guest on Late Night before Wednesday’s inauguration, but by the time Thursday night rolled around, there was really only one thing he wanted to ask him about.
“Were you aware that this photo immediately sort of became the meme of the day?” the host asked, holding up the original photo of Sanders sitting by himself with both legs and mittens crossed before the ceremony began.
“Not at all,” the senator replied. “I was just sitting there trying to keep warm, trying to pay attention to what was going on.”
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Undeterred, Meyers proceeded to show Sanders some of his favorite examples of the phenomenon that took over social media on Wednesday and is somehow still going strong. “Does your staff show them to you?” he wondered, holding up one of the Democratic socialist as the new Samantha on Sex and the City.
Letting out a quick chuckle, Sanders said, “Yeah, I’ve seen them,” before pivoting to tell the story of the Vermont school teacher who made the now iconic mittens and became “somewhat overwhelmed” by the attention she has been receiving. He also laughed politely when the host shared his “favorite” one of him sitting next to Forrest Gump and said, “I think you would get up and leave that bench.”
But Meyers wasn’t finished. “I promise to get to a substantive discussion here, I don’t want to waste all the time talking about memes,” he said, before holding up another photo of Sanders holding a manila envelope that went instantly viral when one comedian tweeted, “Bernie dressed like the inauguration is on his to-do list today but ain’t his whole day.”
Asked what was in the envelope, Sanders joked, “I’d love to tell you Seth, but it’s top secret.”
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