Report: SNL Writers Helping Pro-Biden PAC Reach Younger Voters

Live from DC… it’s Saturday Night? 

That appears to be the new catchphrase that’s ringing out around the Beltway, as a youth-focused super PAC known as Won’t PAC Down (yes, really) is reportedly investing tens of millions of dollars hiring professional writers, directors, and producers with credits on shows like Saturday Night Live to help Joe Biden better appeal to young voters in the upcoming election.

In case you haven’t heard, Biden has a problem: He’s an 81-year-old man who seems more like your Werther’s Original-loving grandpa than the virile leader of the free world. But Won’t PAC Down (again: yes, really) thinks they can help by enlisting a team of funny people who understand Gen Z to create a steady stream of campaign content for the man known to some as “Sleepy Joe.”

According to Politico, a group of TV and movie types with A-list comedy credits from SNL to Parks and Recreation have spent the past six months meeting once a month in Los Angeles to discuss how they can up Biden’s presidential rizz factor using an all-social media strategy. The fruits of these efforts will reportedly begin dropping in early July.

“There’s a big difference between putting a celebrity on camera and having them say, ‘If you liked me in Madame Web, then you’re going to love voting,’ versus what we’re doing,” Travis Helwig, a former head writer at Crooked Media who has taken charge of the group’s writers room, told Politico. “We’re taking the best young writers and directors, who are the age and demographics of the people we’re targeting, using poll-tested messaging, and shaping it in a way that will resonate with young people and get them excited.”

According to Helwig, this means eschewing Facebook and Twitter for Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch and talking about key issues for this demographic, including reproductive rights, gun control, and the skyrocketing cost of living. 

“We need to meet young people where they are and present them with this information in ways that won’t make them roll their eyes or immediately make fun of the ad they just saw,” says Helwig.

While only time will tell how well the strategy works, the group seems to be onto something. 

Since Saturday Night Live’s earliest days, the show has regularly skewered American politics and politicians. While there’s reportedly no firm evidence to state whether the sketch series’ endless lampooning has any real-world impact at the polls, the Fordham Political Review has written previously about what it dubbed “The SNL Effect,” claiming that the show “creates lasting legacies through its mockery.”

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