Halfway down the carpet, the lawyer left policy-talk briefly to tell a few raunchy, well-rehearsed, resistance jokes. “It’s an honor for me to be here tonight because Bob Mueller and I were co-nominated for an award tonight,” Avenatti told a trio of AVN nominees who’d made an adult Hamilton parody called Hamiltoe. “It’s a joint award. It’s ‘Best Domination of a Sitting U.S. President.’”

But after a few low blows (“I was a little surprised to learn that Trump wasn’t here tonight. Because he’s f*cked more people than anybody”), and a dig about Javanka’s kinks (“probably pictures of themselves”), the lawyer got back on track. He told the crowd he was pressuring congress to make Michael Cohen’s congressional hearing a public event.