Washington Politics is Funny

Tonight I saw the next “play” in the Woolly Mammoth season, A Girl’s Guide to Washington Politics. This wasn’t a play at all, but a collection of comedy sketches put on by Chicago’s The Second City. It was very entertaining. There were five ensemble players (4 women and one man) plus a musical accompanist. It was a mixture of brief sketches that included singing and humor, and a few audience interaction pieces as well as an improvisational musical bit. The politics hit both sides, pulling the leg of the left and hammering the right, but was generally pretty funny. The singing was outstanding. Among the memorial bits were an Italian opera based around the Supreme Court, that turned into “Evita” except it was “Elena”. Another was the musical improvisational bit that was built around three suggestions from the audience “DuPont”, “Lindsey Lohan”, and “Health Care” that was amazing to see in its seamless flow and creative lyrics. One of the final bits started with a song from the ladies about online dating and how hard it was to find a guy, followed by pulling a guy up from the audience and the lead lady asking him questions about whether or not they might be compatible, with the chorus of other ladies punctuating his answers with improvised backup singing. I felt sorry for the guy, but it was hilarious (I would have been beet red). It was an evening of a lot of laughs. We’ll see how it compares to tomorrow night.