Capitol Steps turn 30

Newport is the only original office party troupe member remaining. Strauss died in 2007 and Jim Aidala performed off and on for 10 years before taking a series of political jobs in the Clinton administration. He later moved to Grand Rapids, Mich., and remains on the Steps’ board.

The Steps brag that they are equal opportunity satirists and have a song for every scandal. They’ve done “Livin’ Libido Loco” about President Bill Clinton and “Don’t Go Faking You’re Smart,” a duet with a Laura Bush singing to her husband. His response: “I couldn’t if I tried.”

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Take a look back at the comedy troupe Capitol Steps over the past 30 years.

(Courtesy of the Capitol Steps) - Jamie Zemarel, Ann Johnson, and Mike Carruthers perform during the Capitol Steps’ off-Broadway run at the Houseman Theater in 1997.

Mike Tilford, who studied opera and did local dinner theater before joining the troupe nearly 20 years ago, is a dead ringer for Michael Dukakis. Or Chris Dodd. Or Dick Cheney. Or a number of other white male politicians. He played Bill Clinton for years. “I’m Southern and kinda sleazy, so they hired me,” he says.

Staffers for President George H.W. Bush once ordered the Steps not to make fun of the president in a White House performance, but Bush would not have it. “I want to see your songs about me!” Newport recalls his saying, so in went the riff on his mix-up about Pearl Harbor Day, “Try to remember that date in September . . . ,” with Bush joining in onstage.

The politicians never, ever get offended by the jokes, each and every Step insists. It’s only when they’re not included that they get mad.

“You gotta remember the egos on these guys,” says Mark Eaton, who along with Newport writes much of the material. “Say there’s three senators in the crowd. The third one, who didn’t get mentioned, is the one who gets mad.” The troupe doesn’t aim to burn anyone anyway, Eaton says, “just to singe” a little bit. To poke fun at the news, and Washington, and the people we elect to represent us — the ones who’ve been handing the Capitol Steps their best material for three decades, with no signs of stopping.

Maryann Sudbury, in from Ponca City, Okla., and her parents, Earl and Tommie West of Silver Spring, try to attend a Steps performance once a year. At home, Sudbury catches the troupe’s specials on NPR. “They seem to hit the nail on the head,” she says.

“They expose the underlayer” of Washington, Earl says, “and it’s nice to see pomposity deflated.”

A recent show began by noting the opposite of “pro-gress” is “Con-gress.” It featured “Loonies of the Right” (“Strangers in the Night”), “You Can’t Hide This Biden Guy” (“Lyin’ Eyes” by the Eagles) and Herman Cain’s “Love Potion Number 9-9-9.”

It’s an only-in-America kind of thing, says Tommie West. “In Russia, you’d be imprisoned, and in Iraq, you’d get your arm chopped off.”