PBS and its celebrity genealogy show “Finding Your Roots” gave Bernie Sanders and Larry David separate-but-equal chills by revealing they share common DNA.
But the presidential candidate and the “Saturday Night Live” guest who played him elect to be surprised they’re related.
“David, 70, won raves for his impression — he has a striking physical resemblance to Sanders, 76 — but it wasn’t heavy lifting,” said USA Today.
David was quoted as saying: “I have to say: I didn’t have to put a lot of work into that impression. It’s not like I studied tapes or anything. He does talk exactly like my cousin, so I have that voice in my head. I was very surprised and pleased with how many people liked that.”
The Seinfield co-creator told USA Today: “I was completely blown away” by the revelation his great-grandfather fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War and owned two children as slaves.
“Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do was to find all that out on television. It was very un-Larry like. But I’m glad I did it, because it was interesting personally to me to find out all that stuff.”
Sanders learned that his uncle was put to death for refusing to hand over a group of Jewish resistors living in one of the ghettos said Variety.
“I’m proud of his courage in willingly going to his own death in order to protect innocent people,” Sanders said. “So I’m very proud that I have a family member who showed that type of courage and decency.”