Watch “The Koch-O-Nuts” From Top Story! Weekly Episode 244: “Stupid Retirement Tricks”!

With a story about how the Koch Brothers want to fund a right-wing improv troupe, and a cast full of talented improvisers who’d be fully able to appreciate every bad improv move I mocked, this one was a lot of fun to write and direct!

THE KOCH-O-NUTS by Michael Hughes

Starring Eileen Mary O’Connell (Eileen), Blake Hogue (Blake), Colin Contreary (Colin), Stacy Rumaker (Stacy), Sean Cowhig (Sean) and Derek Reid (Audience Member)

Directed by Michael Hughes

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Watch “Party at George’s” from Top Story! Weekly Episode 150: “Obama Comes Out”

We needed another sketch for our show this week, one with a lot of good parts for the ladies, so I threw together this piece about George Clooney’s fundraiser for President Obama that gave the cast a chance to show off their impersonations.

PARTY AT GEORGE’S by Michael Hughes

Starring Kipleigh Brown (Karen Blutcher), Jen Cain (Beth Topinka), Gregg Lopez (George Clooney), Brent Pope (Danny DeVito), Blake Walker (Keith Olbermann), Phillip Wilburn (Al Gore), Tammie Smalls (Wanda Sykes), Deanna Russo (Kristen Stewart), Josh Rachford (Robert Pattinson) and Tillery Johnson (Justin Bieber)

Directed by Michael Hughes

Watch “Soul Campaign” from Top Story! Weekly Episode 134: “Not-So-Good Vibrations!”

As we finished up our readthrough Thursday night for Top Story! Weekly, we realized we didn’t have a particularly strong political sketch for that week’s show. Then we saw the video from that night of President Obama singing at the Apollo Theater:

And from there, writing the Republican candidates singing their own versions of 70’s soul hits became pretty easy. All the actors really nailed this one.

SOUL CAMPAIGN by Michael Hughes

Starring Matthew Harris (Barack Obama), Brian Vestal (Mitt Romney), Brent Pope (Newt Gingrich), Phillip Wilburn (Rick Perry) and Sean Cowhig (Announcer)

Directed by Michael Hughes

Watch “Moneygall for Nothing” from Top Story! Weekly Episode 104: “Rehab Has Them Now”

So after I wrote this sketch, I realized it had the same basic construct as the “Schwarzenegger meets his illegitimate son” sketch I wrote last week: a politician’s mannerisms, speaking patterns and tropes are mirrored unexpectedly by someone related to him. But the sketch came out well, and the audience dug it, and I don’t think most of them were at last week’s show anyway. Plus, I wrote a sketch about Ireland that wasn’t about drinking and potatoes and sexual frustration.

MONEYGALL FOR NOTHING by Michael Hughes

Starring Matthew Harris (Barack Obama), Sean Cowhig (Enda Kenny), Phillip Wilburn (Henry Healy), Kipleigh Brown (Colleen), Tommy Bechtold (Seamus) and Christopher Biewer (Ollie Hayes)

Directed by Kristina Adelmeyer

Aaron Schock Poses Shirtless at a Congressional Meeting – From Top Story! Weekly Episode 102: “Consider This…a Separation”

What’s that? A Republican Congressman posed shirtless on the cover of Men’s Health, showing off his rock hard abs? During a week when Top Story! Weekly has Matt Moore in the cast? Yeah, I think we might be able to do a sketch about that…

STATE OF SCHOCK by <a href="Michael Hughes

Starring Matt Moore (Aaron Schock), Andy Harris (John Boehner), Kipleigh Brown (Michelle Bachmann), Christopher Biewer (Ben Quayle) Brian Vestal (Scott Brown) and Tommy Bechtold (Barney Frank),

Directed by Michael Hughes

Watch Donald Trump Denying Charges That He’s A Racist – from Top Story! Weekly Episode 100: “Kiss Me, Kate!”

Neil Garguilo is one of my favorite actors to work with in the world. (In fact, he’s just plain one of my favorite people in the world.) And a guy as talented as Neil gets busy, so he doesn’t have as much time to do Top Story! Weekly as he or I would like. But he was able to do it this past Sunday, so I put together this sketch about Donald Trump’s allegedly racist comments and got to enjoy the magic that he and Phillip Wilburn have on stage together.

Fun fact: this sketch was performed within a half hour of President Obama’s announcement about the death of Osama bin Laden – look for the line at the top that was added to allude to that fact!

SOME OF MY BEST SUPPORTERS ARE…by Michael Hughes

Starring Phillip Wilburn (Donald Trump) and Neil Garguilo (Craig)

Directed by Michael Hughes

Watch “Couples Therapy” with Nicholas D’Agosto from Top Story! Weekly Episode 85: “The Age of Ophiuchus”

Unfortunately the video quality’s not as good as usual – but you can still enjoy the awesome work done by our special guest, Nicholas D’Agosto from “Heroes,” “Fired Up”, “Election” and the forthcoming “From Prada to Nada” and “Final Destination 5!”

You can see all of the sketches Nick’s done in our show by following this link!

After President Obama’s call for greater civility, John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi try to strengthen their relationship by entering couples therapy!

To see all the sketches from Top Story! Weekly as soon as they’re posted, subscribe to our YouTube channel!

COUPLES THERAPY by Michael Hughes – from Top Story! Weekly Episode 85: “The Age of Ophiuchus”

Starring Nicholas D’Agosto (Trent), Amy Paffrath (Eden), Phillip Wilburn (John Boehner), Kipleigh Brown (Nancy Pelosi), Melissa Okey (Eileen) and Christopher Biewer (Porter)

Directed by Michael Hughes

Nicholas D’Agosto and Tom Clark Guest Star in Top Story! Weekly Sunday January 16 at 9 at iO West!!

You’ve seen Nicholas D’Agosto in movies like “Election” and “Fired Up” and on TV shows like “Heroes” and “The Office.” You can see him later this year starring in “Final Destination 5” and “From Prada to Nada” and in the new USA Network drama series “Eden.” And this Sunday, January 16 at 9, you can see him on the iO West Mainstage as he guest stars in an brand-new edition of LA’s best news-based sketch comedy show, Top Story! Weekly!

And if that’s not enough, our guest standup this week has appeared on shows like “The Late Late Show,” “Outsourced,” “Last Comic Standing,” “Comedy Central’s Premium Blend” and even “The Closer” – Tom Clark!

So don’t miss Nick, Tom and the rest of the Top Story! Weekly cast in an all-new show – named by CBS 2 in their “Best of Los Angeles” – based as always on the events of the past seven days!

For more information, visit our Facebook page or the iO West website. For tickets, call the box office at (323) 962-7560 or purchase them online!

And for a preview of Sunday night – check out this show Nick has done previously with the cast of Top Story! Weekly!

Watch “Happy Rock-Aversary” from Top Story! Weekly Episode 72: “O Go, O Go, Emanuel”

I broke out all my worst Stone Age puns for this sketch – I’m especially proud of “Mi-Shale Obama” and “Sean Granite-y”

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of “The Flintstones,” Fred and Barney welcome a special guest – President Ba-ROCK Obama!

To see all the sketches from Top Story! Weekly as soon as they’re posted, subscribe to our YouTube channel!

HAPPY ROCK-AVERSARY by Michael Hughes – from Top Story! Weekly Episode 72: “O Go, O Go, Emanuel”

Starring Phillip Wilburn (Fred Flintstone), Brian O’Connell (Barney Rubble), Melissa Okey (Wilma Flintstone), Kipleigh Brown (Betty Rubble), Matthew Harris (Ba-Rock Obama), Artemis Pebdani (Ann Margrock), Derek Reid (Singer), Drew Droege (Singer) and Brent Pope (Guest)

Directed by Michael Hughes

Watch “You’re So Two Thousand and Eight” from Top Story! Weekly Episode 69: “Nooooooooooooooooo!”

As someone who hopes to put comedy before ideology, I like it when I can take shots at my own side – particularly when my own side includes flighty, trendy voters who hopped on the Obama bandwagon two years ago because it was the cool thing to do.

Two Democratic operatives visit some 2008 Obama supporters to find out the reason for their “enthusiasm gap!”

To see all the sketches from Top Story! Weekly as soon as they’re posted, subscribe to our YouTube channel!

YOU’RE SO TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT by Michael Hughes – from Top Story! Weekly Episode 69: “Nooooooooooooooooo!”

Starring Matthew Harris (Max), Artemis Pebdani (Katelyn), Phillip Wilburn (Bill) and Gregg Lopez (Steve)

Directed by Kristina Adelmeyer