“I don’t like to kick a politician when he is down,” says piano-playing political satirist Mark Russell — though when they’re up, he’s equal opportunity offense on either side of the aisle. “I wait until he is halfway up. Once he is incarcerated, I lose interest.”
These jokes — and pokes — at politics and the pomposity of public life were Russell’s way long before any of late night’s current players. And he started it all with a newspaper and a piano.
“The piano bar was in the Carroll Arms Hotel, now deceased, where the Senate Parking lot is located,” Russell remembers of where he got his start.
Roaring audiences there earned him a 20-year stint at the Shoreham Hotel and eventually… a Mark Twain Award for political comedy. And those newspapers he was perusing for early content are still an integral ingredient in his show’s success.
Keeping current by devouring some four papers a day at times — online counts, of course, for constantly updated material! — Russell’s shows stay fresh and funny… and no two are ever alike!
Not that you’ll even have two chances to see Russell’s musical merriment. He returns to DC for a single night show at Ford’s Theatre on February 18 (7 PM).
Fittingly on Presidents’ Day, Russell promises that it’ll be packed with material ripped from the headlines: “Obviously, I loved the fiscal cliff fight. It will encompass two (count ‘em – two) songs in my show.”
At least this political whimsy is witty as well.
