It started in January, when it took Kevin McCarthy fifteen floor votes to secure the Speakership.
A comedy routine often benefits from a straight man. When Carl Reiner died, in 2020, the Times noted that, as the foil to the likes of Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks, he had “specialized in portraying the voice of sanity, a calm presence in a chaotic universe.” This year, some of the most chaotic comedy occurred in, of all places, the United States House of Representatives. It started in January, when it took Kevin McCarthy fifteen floor votes to secure the Speakership. That meant fourteen straight losses, stretching into five days, with preening nominating speeches, occasional huddle-ups signifying nothing, and lots of pictures of members looking down at their phones. But mostly it meant roll-call votes, which dragged on and on, from Adams to Zinke. Like the best cringe comedy, the whole thing started out serious, got sort of funny, then very funny, then gratingly unfunny and awkward, and finally just demonically hilarious. How long could this go on?