‘30 Rock’ star Judah Friedlander hits NYC immigration protests

In the weeks since last month’s inauguration, critics of President Trump have turned out by the thousands to protest his policies in cities across the country. Among them is comedian and former “30 Rock” star Judah Friedlander, whose signature trucker hat, messy hair and oversize glasses have become a fixture at recent rallies in New York City.

“I think protesting is one of the most democratic things you can do,” Friedlander told Yahoo News following a small Valentine’s Day gathering of immigrants’ rights supporters in Manhattan’s Foley Square.

The front of his trucker hat, a space typically reserved for irreverent slogans like “World Champion,” has been covered with a strip of duct tape that reads “#NoBanNoWall.” In his hand is Friedlander’s rally-going partner in crime: a blond-haired, blue-eyed Barbie doll.

For the past few months, Friedlander has been running the @activistbarbie account on Instagram, where he posts photos of his smiley plastic sidekick waving handmade signs with slogans like “Protesting > Brunching” and “I think Mexican guys and Muslim guys are cute,” amid the crowds at protests and rallies around the city.

“So many people in this country don’t want to get involved in political stuff; they just want to stay out of it,” Friedlander told Yahoo News. “But staying out of it is part of why we have problems.”

Friedlander’s own history with activism dates back to his early childhood when, at about 5 years old, he recalls going with his mother to protest a neo-Nazi rally. As an adult, he’s given his support to a variety of causes over the years, including the comedian-led movement to demand better pay from New York City comedy clubs in 2005.

Eventually, Friedlander started going to Occupy Wall Street gatherings and, later, Black Lives Matter protests. Onstage, he began satirizing American exceptionalism, taking on a boastful, ethnocentric persona and delivering deadpan declarations about some of our country’s less-flattering accomplishments.

The world-record rate of gun deaths in the U.S., for example, is simply proof that “our country has superior aim,” Friedlander says in one bit. “We’re better marksmen.”

He is modestly optimistic about comedy’s role in the current political climate, but hopes that by at least getting people to think differently about things, comedy can be a “small ingredient in getting policy changed.”

In the meantime, he continues to do his part onstage and in the streets — with Barbie often in tow for his Instagram posts.

“A lot of people think democracy is voting every four years, but it’s not,” he said. “Get out there, go to a protest. See it for yourself. It might actually be fun.”