Vice President Kamala Harris was not the “Superstar” of the 2024 Al Smith Dinner.
After becoming the first presidential candidate in 40 years to miss the charity event put on by the Archdiocese of New York, the Democratic nominee tried to make up for her absence by sending in a pre-recorded “comedy” skit with former “Saturday Night Live” actress Molly Shannon.
In the video, Shannon, 60, resurrected her schoolgirl alter ego Mary Katherine Gallagher to “interrupt” Harris’ formal dinner remarks and warn her not to make fun of Catholics.
In one attempt at humor, Harris, 59, said that making fun of Catholics at the Al Smith Dinner would be like “criticizing Detroit in Detroit,” a reference to Republican nominee Donald Trump, 78, warning an audience at the Motor City’s Economic Club recently that the “whole country will end up being like Detroit” if the Democrat wins the election.
The video also lampooned the Church, with Shannon saying that the Al Smith Dinner was not as important as the Last Supper and warning that all the remarks would be fact-checked by Jesus.
The $5,000-per-plate audience watched the video intently, but were left underwhelmed by Harris’ comedy stylings, with some looking visibly bored and confused.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) put his hands on his head and crossed his arms as the video played, while Archbiship Timothy Cardinal Dolan awkwardly moved his dinner plate around before resting his face on his hand.
Even the event’s emcee, genial comedian Jim Gaffigan, noted the response to the skit after it finished.
“I don’t even know what that noise is,” he said before imitating the audience reaction: “Meeeeeeeh.”
Gaffigan then joked the video showed him how his kids must have felt when he “FaceTimed into a piano recital.”
The Harris video also irked some social media users who said the skit was both tone deaf and offensive to Catholics.
“Terrible and a giant insult,” one wrote.
“Not watching again. Too disrespectful for me,” another said.
An annual event since 1946, the Al Smith Dinner raises millions of dollars for charities and organizations helping vulnerable women and children and is billed every four years as a chance for both presidential candidates to put politics aside and good-naturedly mock each other.
The last major party nominee to skip the dinner was Democrat Walter Mondale, weeks before his blowout loss to Ronald Reagan in 1984.
The vice president’s campaign announced last month that Harris would not attend the dinner, though the archbishop’s office told The Post Thursday they received word in recent days that Harris would send a video message.
The veep opted to travel to the swing state of Wisconsin for a rally Thursday night, rather than show up for the white-tie dinner at the New York Hilton Midtown, a move that divided members of her own party.
“I think [skipping the dinner] was a good call,” one Democratic source told The Post. “With just a few weeks to go until Election Day, spending it in NYC isn’t a smart use of her time.”
A second source disagreed, saying: “I don’t know why you’d go out of your way to avoid it. She could have used it for free national media that could have been fun.
“While they’re shoring up all of their interest group politics and ethnic and demographic group politics, they might want to pander to Catholics, too,” the person added. “Democrats like to be the party of traditions and norms, so why skip this? I think it’s an unnecessary way to alienate a constituency.
“But I don’t think it will have a huge impact on the election.”
