“Suffering Fools”: Jordan Klepper’s odyssey through Kennedy conspiracies and MAGA rallies

There’s nothing like laughter to lighten the political mood. This was certainly the case on Friday night, as grandparents, couples, and students packed McCarter Theatre to see award-winning political comedian Jordan Klepper perform his new show, “Suffering Fools.” Amid a seemingly perpetual whirlwind of national unrest, Klepper’s blend of quick wit, sarcasm, and satirical investigative journalism was just the comic relief the audience needed.

Klepper is best known as a co-host of the long-running and widely successful Comedy Central program, “The Daily Show.” His current touring comedy show, “Suffering Fools,” is a one-man commentary on the state of America and his work as a self-proclaimed “MAGA anthropologist.” It was so eagerly anticipated that McCarter Theatre added a second Friday late-night showing, with ODUS-sponsored student tickets selling out in minutes.

Once the crowd settled into their seats, the show opened with comedian Kat Radley, a writer for “The Daily Show.” Radley delivered jokes that meandered through perennial and current political themes, including the Epstein files, Catholicism, and sex education.

Taking the stage mere hours after a large anti-ICE protest on Princeton’s campus, Klepper walked onstage to roaring cheers. After the applause died, he immediately addressed the elephant in the room, asking if there were any MAGA supporters in the crowd. A silence prompted scattered chuckles.

“This is a safe space … I speak fluent MAGA,” Klepper quipped. He smirked and added wryly, “Thank you for supporting the arts.”

Wasting no time, Klepper proceeded to lay out his vision for the night in the format of “A F***ing Powerpoint”: a chronology of his path to becoming a political comedian and a reflection on his time spent on the road, interviewing MAGA followers as part of his popular show, “Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse.”

Klepper started his journey with a stereotypical work story: an interview with a social media famous pug, aptly named “Doug the Pug.” In this interview, Klepper shared how “Doug the Pug” became much too “excited,” leaving him and his coworker awkwardly waiting to resume. Here, Klepper made a sexual analogy to the red hat MAGA base, using the story to introduce the crowd, via PowerPoint, to a host of his favorite MAGA characters. These characters include former Olympian Klete Keller — who participated in the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6 — a pro-life COVID denier, and a man named Edward, who some MAGA supporters believe is the deceased New York socialite and 90s style icon, J.F.K. Jr., who tragically died in a plane crash in 1999.

Despite the bizarre nature of this conspiracy by itself, Klepper shared that Edward is not the only man MAGA supporters believe is J.F.K Jr. In fact, while covering Trump rallies, he learned of another man named Vince, who other MAGA followers also believe to be the departed Kennedy heir.

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As Klepper noted, these theories are only complicated by the fact that “J.F.K. Jr. is dead.” While neither man truly believes he is J.F.K. Jr., he shared that Edward thinks he more closely resembles J.F.K. Jr. than Vince and is offended by those who say otherwise. To this, Klepper cracked, “You are either J.F.K. Jr. or you are not J.F.K. Jr … there is no such thing as being closer to being J.F.K. Jr.,” while the words were displayed on the slideshow behind him.

Klepper went on to joke that, to prevent his five-year-old son from adopting such conspiracy theories, he does Kennedy family flashcards and hangs Obama’s birth certificate at home. Yet, “Suffering Fools,” despite its name, also made an effort to portray the complexity within the MAGA movement.

Clothed in sardonic remarks and absurd stories, the show’s poignancy could be found in plain sight in the background of Klepper’s PowerPoint. Here, the names of each MAGA character appeared over German-American artist Albert Bierstadt’s famous — and seemingly lightly edited — painting, “Among the Sierra Nevada, California.” The work’s majestic snow-capped mountains overlooking a tree-lined lake, with astounding sunlight illuminating the scene, are meant to represent the divine beauty of America and perpetuate a narrative of American exceptionalism. However, in reality, this narrative is a mirage.

As Klepper explained, within this dreamlike image of America lies the core of the MAGA movement’s appeal. According to Klepper, this narrative is why people like Blake Marnell, a frequent attendee at Trump rallies who dresses in a bespoke suit meant to look like Trump’s border wall and runs an X account called “Brick_Suit,” are so enamored with the MAGA movement: They want to feel like part of something bigger.

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This anecdote fully displayed Klepper’s talents. With sharp comedic timing, Klepper lured the audience into moments of thoughtful silence, only to break them with a snarky remark. In one particularly memorable moment, he shared the story of his 3.5-hour encounter with “Brick Suit Guy.” Coincidentally stuck in the airport together after a Trump rally, Klepper said he and Marnell shared a conversation. Eventually, Klepper even got Marnell to laugh. Months later, at another Trump rally, Klepper asked Marnell how he was doing following President Trump’s assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. Marnell later posted about the encounter on X, writing, “I still appreciate that.”

“You know what I see when I look at this post?” Klepper asked, “Zero re-tweets.”

To close, Klepper reflected on how he came to love politics. Since attending a George H.W. Bush campaign rally at age nine, he had been enamored with the presidency and the fascinating, absurd world of American politics. Years later, his full-circle moment finally came when he got to interview the Clintons. While Klepper expected a more substantive meeting instead, Bill Clinton shared a viral video of a buffalo riding in a car and drinking beer, telling him, “I think you would be into this.”

“This man looked deep into my soul, and this is what he saw,” Klepper quipped.

Perhaps Clinton was on to something. As his stories of conspiracies, social media-famous dogs, and political rallies demonstrated, Klepper can find humor in the everyday absurdity of life, even in its darkest moments.

Slide by slide and line by line, Klepper kept the audience laughing throughout the performance with his trademark dry wit. As he closed the show, quoting lyrics from “YMCA” by the Village People — a call back to Trump’s odd use of the known gay anthem for his rallies — the crowd gave a standing ovation for this epic show that tried to make sense of “this complicated, beautiful, strange land of ours.”

Annika Plunkett is a staff writer for The Prospect, associate Newsletter editor, and a Spanish translator. She can be reached at ap3616[at]princeton.edu.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.