Bobby Sausalito, local comedian and influencer, talks importance of comedy in GOP politics

TAMPA, Fla. – Bobby Sausalito, also known as “takenaps” on social media, stressed the importance of comedy in politics during the Florida Young Republicans 2024 State Convention over the weekend.

“Comedy is important because it makes complex, very boring, very let’s just say sad topics, digestible, and allows people to talk about it without bringing the vibe down,” Sausalito told Florida’s Voice. “If you can make it funny, make it humorous, you can actually bring more attention to something that usually people don’t want to talk about.”

Self proclaimed as a “loud mouthed New England guido” living in South Florida, Sausalito makes comedy videos about politics, the economy, current events, real estate, roasting, travel and dubious observations.

Sausalito provided a litany of nicknames to some of the most prominent names in politics, including President Joe Biden.

“I love 10% of the parm dealer. Joey Basement. Joey ‘why’d you shower with your daughter?’ Those are some of my fan favorites,” Sausalito said.

He also invoked comedic takes on Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.

“I love calling him feta beef, because he’s basically a pile of beef, or at least he was, now he’s kind of regaining some consciousness,” Sausalito said.

Speaking about humor in today’s polarizing political climate, Sausalito said comedy offers an opportunity to give people a “cover of entertainment” to share sometimes controversial topics.

“I noticed very early on when I started making videos that somebody who would consider themselves to be apolitical, not really that involved, or maybe other people don’t think that they know about politics or care about politics – they’ll share a funny video,” Sausalito said. “If people give them a hard time, they can be like, well, I just thought it was funny. It allows them to have this like cover of entertainment for a very complex topic.”

Sausalito added a person could say they were just being funny instead of being called a racist, a misnomer sometimes labeled on Republicans by “triggered” leftists.

“Maybe they don’t want to talk to that person about it, but they can say ‘Hey I just thought it was funny’, but they can say ‘I’m not a racist, I’m not a Republican like you would think,'” Sausalito said. “Meanwhile, they’re still spreading the information and keeping their friends kind of still on their side, I guess. It gives them the ability to get involved and share without it being like, this is what I believe on this one policy.”

Sausalito called the Florida Young Republicans convention crucial to “talking about things that very much matter.”

“I think that it’s the one of the things that the left does exceptionally well – they figured out how to make it cool to be against all of these things that you and I would probably consider to be correct and right, by saying that it’s bigoted or it’s mean,” Sausalito said.

“Anything that can unite people to say that you’re not alone in recognizing that these things are actually good and correct and more morally correct than what they think,” he said. “I think anything that does that is great. And I think the young Republicans did a fantastic job of doing that.”