Straddling the line between Hollywood and hometown, comedian and actor Zach Galifianakis revved up a crowd of Josh Stein supporters at a beer hall in Raleigh on Sunday.

Galifianakis is well credentialed on both counts. As an actor, he has starred in Hollywood films such as “The Hangover” and — more on point — 2012’s “The Campaign,” which featured Galifianakis running for the seat of a slick incumbent played by Will Ferrell in a fictional North Carolina congressional district. 

Galifianakis, 55, was born in North Wilkesboro and attended North Carolina State. He is the nephew of Nick Galifianakis, who served in the North Carolina House for six years before representing the state as a Democratic congressman from Durham for three terms ending in 1973.

Sunday’s event was part political rally, part food drive for flood victims in Western North Carolina. Stein, the attorney general and Democratic nominee for governor, said that carrying on a campaign while also working to help mountain counties is a balancing act but that both are important.

“You go up there as much as you can; you help as much as you can,” Stein said. “This is our third drive of material to take up to the mountains. But we’ve got to win this election, because part of what’s important about this election is making sure that come next year, we have a governor who shows up to work and can do the job.”

Stein’s opponent in the race, Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, has been shown in news reports to have been routinely absent from some of the lieutenant governor’s primary job responsibilities, including presiding over sessions of the state Senate and serving on the State Board of Education and other boards.

He also missed the Council of State vote on the Hurricane Helene emergency declaration. Robinson has said the vote didn’t matter because the declaration was sure to pass. “It’s inconsequential,” he said.

Galifianakis urged attendees to have hard conversations with people they disagree with before the election. “I think there are people that we can sway on a federal level and statewide,” he said. 

He didn’t mince words in expressing his disregard for Robinson. 

“I would vote for that fan over that other guy; I would vote for this piece of plastic over that other guy,” Galifianakis said, caressing a plant near the stage. 

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