The switch at the top of the Democratic ticket for this fall’s presidential election from President Joe Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris caused a lot of commotion in the political world. The political comedy world had to make some adjustments as well.
“It was quite the sea change,” says Tim Kardashian, the creator and executive producer of The Washington Roast.
Kardashian describes The Washington Roast as “a politically incorrect comedy for the people, by the people” that casts local performers as “characterizations of the political heavyweights of the moment.”
What to Expect at the Show
The DC Improv show on Wednesday, September 18 will feature matchups between Harris and Trump, as well as vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and J.D. Vance, but they don’t end there. The characters face off in a series of one-on-one roasts that constitute an eight-character tournament, with the audience determining who goes on to the semifinals and finals.
When the troupe last performed at the DC Improv, in June, Biden was still running for president, and while they had someone playing Harris already, the jokes were different.
“Obviously in the past, a lot of the jokes about Kamala were about that people don’t know much about her, or she’s not getting much work done on the task she had been assigned to,” Kardashian says. “But as Kamala has evolved to take the spotlight, the character is now evolving as well, pushing women’s rights issues … as well as embracing the viral meme sensation that she’s become, with the coconut tree and the brat energy, creating wind under her sails.”
Their current Harris portrayal is done by Elizabeth Booker Houston, a political social media influencer who attended the Democratic National Convention at the invitation of the Democratic Party. “So she was there in Chicago this year and got to interface with people like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Philadelphia Gov. Josh Shapiro and a whole bunch of others while she was there.”
That tournament format means Harris and Trump have faced off before, Kardashian says. So while the real world might have an adjustment to make, The Washington Roast already knew “how their personalities mesh and what their track history is. And, you know, with Trump, of course, the rhetoric doesn’t change very much. He’s just substituting Kamala’s name in his attacks on Biden.”
It’s an extremely political time, especially in Washington, and Kardashian is looking for a way for people to have some fun with what’s going on around them. He says he emphasizes to audience, “You’re voting for the funnier comedian who you want to see move on to the next round, not necessarily who you’re going to vote for in November.”
The Trump character, portrayed by Jon Yeager, wins frequently, Kardashian says, because he’s “extremely funny and very good at improv comedy and winning over audiences.” Another frequently victorious character is independent presidential candidate Cornel West, played by Bria Beddoe, a Black woman who Kardashian says also does a mean Nancy Pelosi.
A Humorous Tradition
The Roast began in 2019 under the name The Constituents, with a parody of the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner. The dinner had backed away from their tradition of having a comedian host the event “because Trump couldn’t take a joke,” and Kardashian saw the importance of upholding the tradition of political humor at a time when it was hard to come by.
Now the troupe does a new show every two months or so at the DC Improv and has shows coming up in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Annapolis, and has performed off-Broadway.
Kardashian says he hopes the show acts as a throwback to a time when “politicians from opposite parties would be still getting together for a drink after a long day’s work, and could actually work together and collaborate — whereas now they’d rather be feuding on Twitter.”
He adds, “If we can laugh together, we can work together.”
The Washington Roast plays at the DC Improv on Wednesday. General admission tickets to the political comedy are $20 and reserved seats are $30 to $35 and can be purchased online. 1140 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC
Featured image courtesy The Washington Roast
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