News of Rick Perry’s indictment broke on Friday, after the script for that Sunday’s Top Story! Weekly was locked. And we didn’t really have anyone in the cast to play Rick Perry. But when I saw that Perry’s troubles arose out of the drunk driving arrest of a political rival, I realized that was the way to hit the story. I churned this out in about 40 minutes, and Stacy Rumaker did an absolutely awesome job as the drunk D.A. explaining the case. And at the end is our tribute to Robin Williams who had passed away the preceding Monday.
ROSEMARY LEHMBERG EXPLAINS RICK PERRY’S INDICTMENT by Michael Hughes
A line flub turned into a happy accident that made the scene. When Bennie Arthur accidentally called Tillery Johnson “Henry Fonda” instead of “Henry Ford”, this sketch about the erotic letters Warren G. Harding sent to his mistress could have been derailed. Instead, because the cast was listening and paying attention, it became even more hilarious.
Hey! It’s been a while! But when our show’s most loyal fan, Herb Koss, celebrated his 80th birthday a few days before our March 9th show I knew we had to do something to address it. Brian Vestal does an absolutely amazing characterization of Herb here – even if you don’t know him, you’ll really enjoy it!!
Tickets are just $10, so make sure you get them now!! Not only will you see an awesome show, but you’ll help a great cause – part of the proceeds will go to the Chris Farley House, a residential sober living facility.
The festival runs from Sunday, June 3 till Saturday, June 9, with amazing shows and workshops every night. The cast of Top Story! Weekly will be hosting all week. And we’ll also be performing in other shows, and teaching workshops that you shouldn’t miss. Check them out after the jump:
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.
When I sent this sketch, based on the whole Haley Barbour pardon kerfuffle, in to Top Story! Weekly, I didn’t think much of it, but to my surprise it made the show. And a rewrite by Kristina Adelmeyer made it better. It’s still too long, but a return appearance by Derek Reid’s Rapey Raperson (first seen in this pirate sketch with Parvesh Cheena, which you should check out), made it worthwhile.
We do a show every Sunday night at iO West based on the news of the previous seven days. And when I saw that this past Sunday would be September 11, it posed a quandary: we couldn’t just ignore the anniversary, but anything we did would have to be tasteful and respectful while still being funny. And then I hit on it: make the sketch about the very difficulty we were having on doing a comedy show on the anniversary of a tragedy, only set it on the anniversary of another, analogous tragedy. I’m pretty proud of the results; I got more compliments on this sketch than on any I’ve written in a while.
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.
One of my all-time favorite recurring sketches in Top Story! Weekly is “El Alcalde de la Pasión,” where we depict L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as the star of a telenovela who is consumed with….PASSION! We haven’t been able to do it in quite some time since Neil Garguilo – who indelibly plays El Alcalde (and is one of my favorite people to write for in the world – in fact, who just plain is one of my favorite people in the world) – hasn’t been available on Sunday in a while. Fortunately, he was available this past Sunday – and with the layoffs hitting the LAUSD, the opportunity to make El Alcalde hot for teacher was too good to pass up!
Mike Hughes' blog 
Watch “Rosemary Lehmberg Explains Rick Perry’s Indictment” From Top Story! Weekly Episode 262: “Perry Deep Trouble”
August 22, 2014News of Rick Perry’s indictment broke on Friday, after the script for that Sunday’s Top Story! Weekly was locked. And we didn’t really have anyone in the cast to play Rick Perry. But when I saw that Perry’s troubles arose out of the drunk driving arrest of a political rival, I realized that was the way to hit the story. I churned this out in about 40 minutes, and Stacy Rumaker did an absolutely awesome job as the drunk D.A. explaining the case. And at the end is our tribute to Robin Williams who had passed away the preceding Monday.
ROSEMARY LEHMBERG EXPLAINS RICK PERRY’S INDICTMENT by Michael Hughes
Starring Stacy Rumaker (Rosemary Lehmberg), Matthew Harris (Matt) and Brent Pope (Brent)
Directed by Kristina Adelmeyer
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Tags:Adrian Cronauer, Aladdin, Ashleigh Hairston, Austin Texas, Bennie Arthur, Brent Pope, Dead Poets Society, district attorney, drunk driving, Genie, Good Morning Vietnam, Good Will Hunting, Hook, John Keating, Matthew Harris, Michael Hughes, Mike Hughes, Mitchel Baldwin, Mork, Mork and Mindy, Mrs. Doubtfire, Oh Captain My Captain, Peter Banning, Peter Pan, Rick Perry, Robin Williams, Rosemary Lehmberg, Sean Maguire, Stacy Rumaker, Texas Public Integrity Unit, Top Story! Weekly, Zach Zucker
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