Capitol Steps

The Capitol Steps, the only group in Washington that attempts to be funnier than Congress, is a troupe of former Congressional staffers who travel the country satirizing the very people and places that once employed them.

Over the past 16 years the group has recorded 24 albums, including five during the Clinton Administration: Sixteen Scandals, Return to Center, A Whole Newt World, Lord of the Fries and The Joy of Sax. Other releases include 76 Bad Loans, We Arm the World, Stand by Your Dan, Fools on the Hill, and It's Not Over 'til The First Lady Sings. Their newest album is Papa's Got a Brand New Baghdad. The Capitol Steps perform over three hundred shows a year nationwide, from Pasadena to Pensacola, and everywhere in between.

The Steps have been featured on three national specials for public television: Good Morning, America; Entertainment Tonight; Nightline; the Today show; 20/20; CBS Morning News; ABC's World News Tonight; NBC Nightly News; and dozens of times on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. They currently produce, with KCRW, quarterly specials for public radio stations nationwide, and they've been regularly featured on CNN's Inside Politics.

The group was formed in 1981, when three staffers for Senator Charles Percy were asked to provide entertainment for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Christmas party. At first, the group considered staging a traditional nativity play, but in all of the Congress were unable to find three wise men or a virgin! So they instead dug into the headlines and the hot topics of the day to create new lyrics for familiar tunes. What emerged was a special brand of satirical humor that played as well in Peoria as it did on Pennsylvania Avenue. And, thanks to the likes of Ross Perot, Socks the Cat, and the entire Congress, has enjoyed an ever-increasing audience.

The Capitol Steps were created during the Reagan Administration by Elaina Newport, Bill Strauss and Jim Aidala. They decided that if entertainers could become politicians, then politicians could become entertainers. Since then, there's been a tripling of the national debt, four Soviet Premiers, and more than 4,500 performances in 48 states. The group now has a full cast roster of twenty, six of whom are on stage for any one show.

All of the members of the cast have worked on Capitol Hill; for Democrats, Republicans and politicians who sit on the fence. Thanks to the scandals and screw-ups of our elected officials, there's never a shortage of material. Says Elaina Newport, co-founder and performer, "Typically the Republicans goof up and the Democrats party. Then the Democrats goof up and the Republicans party. That's what we call the two-party system."