By Koo Hwangbo
For the past 36 years, the Capitol Steps have made a living poking fun at the politicians of our country. From Bill Clinton to Donald Trump, this political satire group based out of Washington, D.C., has created popular content from the blunders of our nation’s leaders.
“If you ever wanted to see Joe Biden sing a rock song and hear Bernie Sanders sing a show tune and see Vladimir Putin dance shirtless on stage, that’s pretty much our show,” says Elaina Newport, a founding member of the Capitol Steps. “We’ll do song parodies from current songs, like Donald Trump’s ‘Shut Up and Vote for Me’ from ‘Shut Up and Dance with Me,’ but we’ll have some old show tunes like Bernie Sanders sing[ing] ‘If There Were No Rich Men’ to the tune of ‘If I Were a Rich Man.’”
Since its formation in 1981, the group has had to create fresh political content as it drops material that becomes irrelevant. “It’s so fast; you really get attached to songs,” Newport says. “I loved our Jeb Bush song, and then there it goes.”
Even after decades of performing, The Capitol Steps have never seen an election season quite like this one. “We had thought four years ago that we couldn’t top Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann, but this year it’s like that times three or four.” Newport says. “This year Chris Christie was funny, and Ben Carson was definitely funny … You don’t watch the news thinking, ‘Is this good or bad for the country?’ You think, ‘Is this funny? What rhymes with it?’”
While members of The Capitol Steps like to poke fun at politicians, they try to make sure they pick on everyone evenly. “We try to be very bipartisan. People leave our show thinking, ‘OK, they got everybody,’” Newport says. “You do have to be careful about some subjects, but it’s all in good fun, and it doesn’t cross that line.”
As the people of America sit at home, hoping for the nation to solve its problems, The Capitol Steps sit back with a pen and notepad, hoping for more of the same. “We’re just hoping the politicians don’t get quietly competent and solve all the problems,” says Newport.
The political satire group will keep the audience laughing at Hylton Performing Arts Center Sept. 18 with musical parodies featuring characters like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
