‘Trump superfan’ crashes Bernie rally? It was fake ‘Jake Byrd’ of ‘Kimmel’

[symple_heading style=”” title=”By Ken Stone” type=”h1″ font_size=”” text_align=”left” margin_top=”20″ margin_bottom=”20″ color=”undefined” icon_left=”” icon_right=””]The night before Donald Trump mathematically clinched the GOP presidential nod, the New York businessman’s “ultimate superfan” was shown crashing a Bernie Sanders rally near San Diego.

It was a made-for-TV prank.

Wednesday night on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Emmy-award winning actor and writer Tony Barbieri reprised his recurring role as “Jake Byrd.”

At Saturday’s Sanders rally in National City, Barbieri said in a 5-minute video that “It’s like Commie-Con,” alluding to the Comic-Con summer convention that makes San Diego home.

Wearing a cap with the letters “DTF” (for Donald Trump Forever), Barbieri as Byrd held a sign saying Trump 16″ (supposedly his manhood size) and interrupted Sanders fans.

“We’re all here for the same reason — to elect Donald Trump,” he told one. Barbieri, 52, also hijacked San Diego Opera tenor Jim Boydston’s solo performance of “We’re on a Journey for Bernie,” saying: “Go Trump.”

Boydston, who will attend the Democratic National Convention as a Sanders delegate if his congressional district backs the Vermont senator, wrote about the experience on Facebook.

“I didn’t know the crew that interviewed me was from the show,” he said. “I didn’t actually take the time to read the release I signed — and I didn’t know that obnoxious guy was part of the act.”

Barbieri, a Mad Magazine contributor with many TV writing credits and Writers Guild awards, began working for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in 2003. His first appearance as Jake Byrd was in 2004.

In May 2004, as a “tropical fish store employee” from Chino, Byrd was quoted in The New York Times. The paper didn’t know he was pranking them at the Michael Jackson trial.

“Despite this, the Times wrote again about him, as if he were a real person, during the 2007 O.J. Simpson robbery case,” Wikipedia noted. It’s shown here:

Other “Jake Byrd” appearances:

• March 2016: Jake Byrd Sneaks Into Donald Trump’s Florida Victory Speech
• February 2016: Jake Byrd Invades Donald Trump’s New Hampshire Rally
• January 2016: Jake Byrd at Sarah Palin rally
• September 2015: Jake Byrd at Donald Trump Rally in Dallas
  
• December 2014: Jake Byrd on Black Friday

Barbieri tweets, infrequently, via his account at thetonybarbieri.