A political satire comedy troop called Capitol Steps will be
spoofing politicians in song and skits until the audience is
“Bushed,” beginning at 7:30 p.m. today at the Bromeley Family
Theater on the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford campus.

The Capitol Steps began in December 1981 when some staffers for
Sen. Charles Percy were planning entertainment for a Christmas
party. Co-founders Elaina Newport, Bill Strauss and Jim Aidala
decided to dig into the headlines of the day and created song
parodies and skits which conveyed a type of satirical humor that
was popular wherever the Steps performed.

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 18 Congressional offices and represent 62 years of
collective House and Senate staff experience.

“I worked on the Hill for 10 years, then I lost my mind and
decided to do this full-time,” Mark Eaton, current performer and
co-author of the Steps material, said Friday. “I read the Capitol
Hill newspaper, literally called ‘Roll Call.’ I was looking in that
and saw an ad for Capitol Steps looking for a performer. I had a
little theater experience so I tried out and have been in ever
since 1993.”

Since they began, the Capitol Steps have recorded 26 albums,
including their latest, “I’m So Indicted.” They’ve been featured on
NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS and can be heard four times a year on
National Public Radio stations nationwide during their “Politics
Takes a Holiday” radio specials.

Eaton said most of the albums are musical, political satire.

“I’d say out of 20 to 25 tracks, I’d say about 20 are musical
and the rest is spoken,” Eaton said. “Of course, we always have one
called ‘lirty dies,’ which is sort of like a backwards talk spoof
that closes the albums. And we do have a few other spoken
bits.”

The Capitol Steps material is constantly updated to include
material such as George Bush’s latest malapropism in “Don’t Go
Fakin’ You’re Smart” to Elton John’s “Don’t Go Breaking My
Heart.”

Eaton said there’s about 30 different song skits in their
performance, which is “very fast paced.” As an example, he said
someone playing a Congressman could be coming off stage singing
while a man playing President George W. Bush could come on and sing
then be joined by actors playing Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld and Vice-President Dick Chaney for another song.

Eaton said the show is not really stand-up material or
“improv-driven.”

“It’s pretty much a set show,” he said.

Although the Capitol Steps are based in Washington, D.C., most
of their shows are for out-of-town audiences, whether it’s the
National Welding Supply Association, a University audience, high
schoolers or state legislators. In fact, the Capitol Steps have
performed for the last five Presidents.

Eaton said there’s not really a difference performing on
different stages, and the show gets pretty much the same sort of
reaction wherever they go.

“We’re very conscious that some places are not as
political-minded as we are inside Washington,” Eaton said, pointing
out that some people won’t get a joke, for example, about someone
on a subcommittee referencing manure in a talk about global
warming. “We use pretty big, broad strokes. Basically, if you have
an interest in politicians and aren’t afraid to laugh at them …
then everyone will have a good time. The show may vary a little
between hard-core red states and hard-core blue states. For
instance, in Texas, you can tell a few Bush jokes, but the audience
doesn’t want to hear too much of that. In other states, like
California or Minnesota … they can’t get enough. Sometimes we look
at how a state voted in the past and that might shift the show just
a little bit.”

“Small-town audiences aren’t that cynical yet, which is a breath
of fresh air,” Eaton said. He pointed out that small-town
Pennsylvanians probably know politicians, “but it’s not like say
New York or (Washington) D.C. where everybody knows someone in
politics.”

Being a co-author of the material for the show, Eaton finds a
lot of inspiration in the news.

“News is the best place to start,” Eaton said. “I usually start
by reading the newspaper cover to cover to find things I think
would be funny. … (Then,) I watch to see if the late night
comedians are talking about it, and if they are, probably everyone
knows about it and it’s safe to have it in the show.”

Eaton said the Steps usually bring their latest three albums to
every show. Their latest, “I’m So Indicted,” which came out in
April, will be available at the Pitt-Bradford performance tonight
as well as their albums “Four More Years in the Bush Leagues” and
“Papa’s Got a Brand New Baghdad.”

The performance also benefits Pitt-Bradford’s Arts
Endowment.