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Tenement Museum

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Breaking Character
New York
Italian
Racism

Oh, my darling, Ava. For 16 hours today, I break my hands in factory. I can afford to bring a cabbage home for soup. We should have stayed in Poland.
Michael, our bellies will have to be filled with love. Food will be a luxury for the next generation.
But there are no good jobs. They have all been taken by the filthy greasy Italians.

A sketch set at the Tenement Museum in New York City where a tour group visits a recreated 1913 apartment. Two "historically trained re-enactors" (Louis C.K. and Kate McKinnon) portray Polish immigrants Michael and Ava Linzowsky, showing visitors what life was like for working-class families. The sketch becomes increasingly uncomfortable as the characters deliver period-accurate but racist jokes about Italian immigrants, causing the modern-day visitors to become disturbed. The sketch is notable for both performers frequently breaking character and laughing, particularly due to Louis C.K.'s exaggerated Polish accent.