Larry David and Bernie Sanders are well aware that they share some similarities. They’re both aging, balding dudes from Brooklyn with a laundry list of gripes, though Larry’s are mostly about ring stains and Bernie’s are more tax-related.
Larry David played up the parallels in a string of genius SNL sketches, and Sanders made a crack about it to Rachel Maddow—but now, the truth is out. All jokes aside: Larry David and Bernie Sanders are actually distant cousins.
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The PBS show Finding Your Roots, which delves into celebrities’ family histories, broke the news to the pair on the season four premiere Tuesday, explaining that the two are likely third or fourth cousins. The show’s host, Henry Louis Gates Jr., sat David and Sanders down separately and gave them each a book with information about their relative inside.
“I hope it’s a good athlete,” David said, before opening the cover to find a photo of the Vermont senator and chill-ass YA author. “What the hell!”
Sanders was similarly blown away, first asking if PBS was kidding. “That is unbelievable,” he said. “People talk to me about Larry David,” he went on, “and I say, ‘He does a better Bernie Sanders than I do!’”
The news about the pair’s connection first came out last July, when a critic who had seen an advance copy of the Finding Your Roots episode asked David about it during a press conference. But now that the episode has aired, the world can watch Larry and Bernie realize that they’re more than just bizarro versions of one another—they share some honest-to-god DNA.
Give the clip a watch above, via PBS.
