NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch brought a sharp sense of humor to Thursday night’s Al Smith Dinner, drawing laughs from New York’s political and civic elite with a series of jokes about progressive calls for Mayor Zohran Mamdani to replace her as the city’s top police official.
“There’s a lot of talk these days that the mayor’s friends don’t like me,” Tisch said, setting up a room that included Mamdani himself. She then delivered the punchline: “That’s simply not true – President Trump and I get along great!”
Tisch briefly shifted to a more serious tone, acknowledging that “things got a little hot for me this week” before turning to the well-heeled crowd and asking: “Just in case, anybody hiring?”
In another joke, Tisch, a third-generation member of the Loews Corporation family, said Mamdani had told her last year that she would remain in charge of the NYPD because, “Jessie, I ran on taxing the rich, you’re going to need a job.”
Tisch, 45, received the Happy Warrior Award at the annual dinner hosted by the Archdiocese of New York. The event is known as an evening when politicians set aside partisan divisions, trade good-natured jabs and raise support for the city’s needy.
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“This dinner is an opportunity to set aside our religious and political differences,” Tisch said. “Which is wonderful, because I’m a Jewish police commissioner working for a Muslim mayor, and tonight I’m being honored by the Catholic Church. God Bless America.”
Archbishop Ronald Hicks, presiding over his first Al Smith Dinner, presented the award to Tisch and told her, “It’s been delightful sitting next to you today at this dinner. You are our Happy Warrior.” He also thanked her for continuing her family’s tradition of public service.
Hicks’ predecessor, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, thanked Tisch — whom he called “Wonder Woman” — for allowing him to serve as co-chief chaplain of the NYPD. Dolan said she was doing “a splendid job.”
Lynda Carter, the actress who first portrayed Wonder Woman on the classic 1970s television series, was also in attendance. But even the DC Comics heroine’s famed Lasso of Truth could not draw a response from Mamdani, who did not address the dinner. The mayor’s office did not immediately comment on Tisch’s remarks.
Tisch and the NYPD have faced mounting criticism over the department’s handling of anti-ICE demonstrations that erupted after federal agents shot Oscar Belgal, an illegal migrant and suspected gang member, on Oct. 8 in the Marble Hill section of The Bronx.
Mamdani allies, including soon-to-be congresswoman Darializa Avila Chevalier, have called for Tisch’s resignation or removal. They have also demanded the dissolution of the NYPD’s elite Strategic Response Group, falsely accusing officers of violating New York City’s sanctuary laws, which prohibit police from assisting ICE.
