The Capitol Steps on Election Night at Schnitzer Hall

Friday, October 31, 2014

Byron Beck, GoLocalPDX Features Editor

Capitol Steps

The Capitol Steps Perform on election night in Portland

The Capitol Steps began as a group of Senate staffers in Washington D.C. who set out to satirize the very people and places that employed them.

Talk about gnawing on the hand that doles out the government contracts.

In the thirty (!) years that followed, many of the Steps (that's what they call themselves) ignored the conventional wisdom ("Don't quit your day job!"), and although not all of the current members of the Steps are former Capitol Hill staffers, taken together the performers have worked in a total of eighteen Congressional offices and represent 62 years of collective House and Senate staff experience. That is a hella lot of hand-wringing, coffee-guzzling and election night panic attacks.

And music. Lots of music with a decidely poliitical and some might say partisan edge. Their set list, subject to change to reflect any new scandals of the day (paging Clyvia Hayes!), include such reworked hits as "Like A Rolling Drone," "The Big Benghazi Theory," "Fiscal Shades of Gray," and "Barrack Around the Clock" amongst some pithy political patter.

The Steps are heading to Portland for a performance on, of all days, election night. GoLocalPDX asked one of the members of this D.C. comedy lobbying group on what local audiences might expect from their Novemember 4 show and here is what the Step's Mark Eaton had to say:

How did the Capitol Steps begin?

The Capitol Steps began back in 1981 at a Senate office Christmas party. We originally wanted to do a traditional nativity play, but in all of the Congress we couldn’t find three wise men or a virgin.

Is it important to localize your performance depending on the city or state? For example does a Governor like New Jersey's Chris Christie or former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin work well in every routine or is it important to be on top of what is happening with, say, someone like Oregon’s Governor Kitzhaber and his seemingly endlessly news-worthy fiancee?

It can be very hard to localize a show. We try to use broad strokes so that you don’t have to be a total political junkie to enjoy the show. National and international characters are always best, but a good a sex scandal or green card marriage is always a bonus when we hit the road.

Is there ever headlines that are off-limits: for example has ISIS or ebola or the Obama pre-teen children made it into the routine yet?

We have never ruled out a person or issue completely because you can usually find something funny in most situations. For example Ebola is a horrible disease, but at the same time our first line of the defense are the courteous and highly-efficient TSA agents at our airports. You gotta admit that is pretty funny….

Since most of your performances are in D.C.at the Ronald Reagan Building, do you go soft off that particular president?

We don’t do a lot of “back of the rack” stuff, but when we started we obviously went after Reagan pretty good. But don’t you think a comedy troupe should perform in a more appropriately named venue? They could at least name the theatre where we perform after Bill Clinton!

What does it mean to play your show on the road on election night? Isn’t this your Superbowl and Academy Awards all wrapped up in one. Shouldn’t you be in the middle of Washington D.C. or something? Do you guys charge more for election night?

I would say election nights of Presidential election years are perhaps our big night (but more People’s Choice Awards rather than Academy Awards). Since this year is just a Mid-Term, it really hasn’t generated the same kind of interest. The possibility of the Senate going to the GOP that seems to be the only thing that is keeping some of the electorate awake. And I like your idea of charging more….please pass that wonderful idea to the Oregon Symphony.

The Capitol Steps, 7:30 PM, Tuesday Nov. 4, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 Southwest Broadway (Note: The Oregon Symphony does not perform). Tickets begin at $25 and can be purchased online at any time from the orchestra’s website.