Do you like it when comedians make fun of elected officials? Are you a fan of satire such as Mad Magazine, Saturday Night Live or the satire you hear on conservative and liberal radio talk shows?
Is so you MUST hear the Capital Steps. TMV has some of their CDs and they’re a scream. They do song parodies with screamingly funny lyrics and short stand up bits. Click HERE and you can go to their website and sample songs such as Bush singing If I Only Had A Plan (If I Only Had A Brain/Heart/Nerve), or the PBS song Bye, Bye, Big Bird (Bye, Bye, Blackbird), Bush’s song when he meets the new Palestinian leader and Israeli Prime Minister, Embraceable Jew (Embraceable You)…and more.
FOOTNOTE: The difference between the Capital Steps and the satirists and song parody specialists you hear on the radio is that they blast BOTH SIDES. And, in case you’re interested, the group started out as a group of Republican staffers. They’ve been the favorite of Presidents (Ronald Reagan adored them and Nancy reportedly did not) and high-profile newsmakers (Ken Starr hired them to perform at a party) but, according to their book, Bob Dole was not amused by their song, Viagra (sung to the tune of West Side Story’s Maria. Maybe it was the part where “Dole” sings “Viagra, Viagra, Viagra… and his wife chimes in with “Thank GOD for Viagra!”).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.