My effort to write for myself – something I always encourage the actors to do – had its election week inspiration in the fact that we had the right cast to play the celebrity supporters of Mitt Romney. In the show, it followed a very successful porn-themed sketch, so the response wasn’t quite what I wanted – but I hope you enjoy it!!
TOSSED ELECTIONS AND SCRAMBLED THOUGHTS by Michael Hughes
Watching Obama’s performance in last Wednesday’s debate wasn’t easy for me. But I still had to get comedy out of it. And thinking about how the same Republicans who were abandoning Romney the day before suddenly rallied around him, I thought about what might happened if those closest to Romney let slip how they had felt about his chances.
Mitt Romney’s jump-the-gun response to the attack on the Libyan consulate in Benghazi got me thinking: what if he was the sheriff coming in to clean up an Old West town? Here’s what I came up with. Mike Besaw did a great job with the sound effects on this one. And I like how Mike McLendon’s character’s name is a shout-out to his Harold team.
I write freelance jokes for morning radio shows. One of the things they ask for are Top Ten-style lists. Sometimes they buy what I write. Often they don’t. So rather that let them go to waste, I thought I’d start posting them here so somewhere people can enjoy them.
Top Other Things You Didn’t Know About Mitt Romney.
His magic Mormon underwear has the power to make his personality disappear.
As a boy he tied puppies to the top of his bicycle.
Growing up he and his friends played “Hide and Seek the Tax Returns.”
His favorite flavor of ice cream is strawberry. . . no, vanilla. . . wait, pistachio. . .
He’s teaching Ann’s dancing horse the “Gangham Style” dance.
By mistake, he once fired himself.
He was so poor when he started out that his apartment only had a car escalator.
At the holidays he serves meals to poor families like the Rockefellers and Kennedys.
At the supermarket checkout he flips through “People” magazine to see pictures of his favorite corporations.
I had wanted for a while to do a “Downton Abbey” parody with Mitt Romney, but I hadn’t been able to figure out an angle. But when I read about the incredibly elitist and out-of-town comments his supporters made outside his Hamptons fundraisers, I knew I had it. And when the Bain Capital allegations blew up over the past few days, the sketch provided a means to address those stories as well. I was happy about a lot with this sketch – especially the audience’s instant recognition of the “smoking and plotting” O’Brien and Thomas.
Mitt Romney’s troubles connecting with Southern voters, the Puerto Rico primary falling on the same day as our show, and the fact that two of our cast members of Latin descent were in the cast gave me the inspiration for this look at Mitt’s attempt to be kinda Puerto Rican!
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.
Mike Hughes' blog 
Watch “Tossed Elections and Scrambled Thoughts” from Top Story! Weekly Episode 157: “Return of the King!”
November 16, 2012My effort to write for myself – something I always encourage the actors to do – had its election week inspiration in the fact that we had the right cast to play the celebrity supporters of Mitt Romney. In the show, it followed a very successful porn-themed sketch, so the response wasn’t quite what I wanted – but I hope you enjoy it!!
TOSSED ELECTIONS AND SCRAMBLED THOUGHTS by Michael Hughes
Starring Michael Hughes (Kelsey Grammer), Phillip Wilburn (Donald Trump), Grasie Mercedes (Stacey Dash), Artemis Pebdani (Victoria Jackson) and Blake Walker (Kid Rock)
Directed by Kristina Adelmeyer
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Tags:2012 election, 2012 presidential campaign, 2012 presidential election, Artemis Pebdani, Blake Walker, Clueless, Donald Trump, Frasier, Grasie Mercedes, Kelsey Grammer, Kid Rock, Michael Hughes, Mike Hughes, Mitt Romney, Phillip Wilburn, Stacey Dash, Top Story! Weekly, Victoria Jackson
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