Wes Serafine
Equinox Staff
On Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012, the comedy group The Capitol Steps performed in the Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College.
The Capitol Steps first started in 1981 as a group of staffers trying to put together some entertainment for a senator’s Christmas party.
Their original idea was to stage a nativity play, but, as the group so comically put it, they were unable to find three wise men or any virgins in all of Congress. They decided to dig into the headlines of the day and create song parodies and skits which conveyed a special brand of political and satirical humor.
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Since then the group has performed all over the country, appeared on numerous television stations, including ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS, and recorded over 30 albums which feature their song parodies, including their latest album, “Take The Money and Run – For President.”
One part of the show that provoked laughter among the audience was when Barack Obama urged the audience to write letters to their congressman to support his job bill because in a few months he may be out of a job.
This all was performed shortly before breaking into a rendition of “Under The Sea” with re-worked lyrics about the death of Osama Bin Laden. During the performance, John Boehner was depicted in “Phantom of The Opera” attire and sang a song about the “Loonies on the Right” (a parody of “Music of The Night”).
Every sketch was both humorous and topical, but never leaned too far into the political side of things that would leave the less politically aware members of the audience feeling alienated.
According to KSC student Eddie Harris, “I’m not very into politics, I don’t really like politics, but I still thought the show was one of the funniest I’d seen in my life.”
The strongest part of the show came at the very end when Kevin Corbett, one of the members of the group performed one of his signature monologues, called “Lirty Dies.”
This is where Corbett recites a speech about the various things going on in the world of politics only flipping around certain sounds in order to make the speech sound like something else. Several of these “Lirty Dies” can be found on the Capitol Steps’ website.
Associate Professor of English Katherine Tirabassi said that she had always wanted to see The Capitol Steps live, being a long time fan of the group, and now wiwth her mother in town, she said she finally had the opportunity and enjoyed the show from start to finish.
Jack Rowles, played several characters throughout the show, but most notably portrayed Mitt Romney. Romney is his favorite role to play as it is the most topical and is one of the characters that gets the biggest reaction from the audience, he said. He said he enjoyed playing the characters that are the most relevant at the time. Rowles said, “The funniest stories are the ones you don’t make up.”
Morgan Duncan, who spent years after college as a stand up comedian before joining the team, played Barack Obama several times throughout the show.
As proud as he was to be playing The President of the United States, he said that his favorite character to portray was the secretary of tourism in Iraq, a character he’s been played for a long time.
The “Lirty Die” himself, Kevin Corbett, was described as the crazy man of the team by the rest of The Capitol Steps group. When asked what inspired him to get his start in comedy, Corbett’s responded with, “Birth.”
Unlike his associate, Rowles, whose favored role was the one that was most popular, Corbett’s favorite role was the soda company executive from New York, because it is a small but funny role that won’t be around as long as some of the others.
But no matter what the role is or what the skit is, The Capitol Steps’ main goal is to inform through a special brand of satirical and political humor.
Wes Serafine can be contacted at wserafine@keene-equinox.com