Free Republic

When NBC went on the air on Thursday for their special coverage of former President Donald Trump’s conviction in New York, legal analyst Laura Jarrett touched on the reaction the verdict received from his supporters. The only problem for NBC was that the footage they showed alongside Jarrett of a hysterical Trump supporter who could be heard yelling and screaming throughout her report was of a Jimmy Kimmel-employed liberal actor. The man’s name is Tony Barbieri, who does a bit for ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! where he calls himself Jake Byrd and travels across the country acting like a caricatured...

As Roy Moore's seemingly surreal Alabama Senate campaign continues to trundle along unabated by allegations of sexual assault, it was perhaps unsurprising that a comedian and film crew from the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show would show up to poke fun at the twice-removed chief justice and his fervent supporters. It all unfolded at the Magnolia Springs Baptist Church in Theodore, Alabama, on a balmy Wednesday night of subterfuge from both the Kimmel film crew and Roy Moore staffers. The press being the victims on each occasion. Jake Byrd, a fictional character that has appeared intermittently on Kimmel's show, played by...

Jake Byrd, the celebrity-obsessed character of sketch comic Tony Barbieri, appeared on the Thursday night "Jimmy Kimmel Live" show to discuss his impromptu performance behind O.J. Simpson's lawyers. He didn't say much, the clips said it all. Barbieri's performance was picked up by all of the cable news channels. WMV video available here. Is Jake Byrd set to become the next Borat? Quite possibly so and for exactly the same reason. He makes a smart cultural critique in a silly and funny way.