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On November 1, The Valentine Theater welcomes back the Capital Fools, a comedy troupe with a mission to unite the country, one laugh at a time. The long-running, political-satire group are guilty of being equal-opportunity offenders of both parties. Originally known as the Capitol Steps, they’ve been performing under that name since 1981. In 2020 they disbanded with some staying on and adding a new member or two. For better or worse, there’s a plethora of material available on a daily basis. Director Jack Rowles spoke with Toledo City Paper about their upcoming show.
It’s got to be tough to keep up with a news cycle that defies the laws of time and space. Let’s face it, one week of news feels like year. At one point last year UFOs were seriously talked about on mainstream news shows. Last September, during an interview with WCPT, Capitol Fools writer, Mark Eaton, admitted it’s a challenge and it’s only gotten more frenetic since then. Rowles says he’s directing, producing, and performing, so when the new cycle starts breaking the sound barrier, he reaches out to the show’s writers. “It’s a fluid, ongoing thing in terms of writing. We may add lines here or there and subtly change things within the structure of the show, but we don’t do a major overhaul until we hit the 8th month period. At 8 months we can rework everything from top to bottom. That said, it’s fun, it’s a game, like most people who do comedy, we are constantly tweaking the routines and finding out what works best,” says Rowles.
What’s in a Show?
Rowles says the Capitol Fools do a range of comedy styles. Audiences can expect to hear song parodies and sketches, along with some improv. “No two shows are ever the same. There’re moments where we veer off script and have some fun with it, we even do singalongs.” He explains spoken — a bit in the show where they do long monologues with letters of words reversed, held over from their days as the Capitol Steps. “This particular bit has a lot of innuendo, for example, it’s time to pick a new leader becomes it’s time to lick a new Peter! Keeping hope in your soul, becomes ‘soap in your hole.’ Now there’s something we can relate to — the idea that politicians need soap in their hole/mouth! In Chicago last week they opened the show with, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this performance, please note the emergency exits throughout the room. In the event of an emergency please remain seated and wait for congress to come to an agreement,’” laughs Rowles.
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When Capitol Steps became Capitol Fools, it was really a matter of deciding if they wanted to retire. It should be noted that even with their oldest member in his 60s, that’s nothing compared to Pelosi and McConnell, so why not carry on? Rowles even finds their new name is more in line with 2020s politics. “We took the best six performers of Capitol Steps, we elaborated on the look of the set, and we now have one main writer which I think makes the show stronger, while maintaining what was best about the show people came to know and love since the 1980s,” notes Rowles.
We The People, Want to Laugh Again
There’s no denying that times are tough emotionally for our country. Rowles says that in 2024 the show’s tagline was “uniting the country one laugh at a time.” Now the goal is just to laugh again — “We the people, need comedy now more than ever,” is the 2025 theme. It’s true that nearly all comedy, if any, is partisan. “There’s no bipartisan comedy,” says Rowles, “I look around and think, we’re it. There’s no one that’s going to mock both sides in a lighthearted way. The biggest challenge can be just getting people to come out to the shows and to give themselves permission to let go and laugh, but when they do, they often tell us how much they needed that laughter.” In what other show could you see Secretary Kennedy sing a duet with his brain worm, or Bernie Sanders and AOC do their own rendition of Ebony and Ivory as Elderly and Ovaries? Such is the blessing of the First Amendment —something the UK, among other countries, wishes they had right now. We can laugh again; we just need to reach across the aisle and know we have more in common with each other than with our politicians — they’re all fools anyway.
Capitol Fools are at The Valentine Theater, November 1. Get tickets online at etix.com/ticket/p/56409105/variety-series-202526the-capitol-foolssaturday11125-800-pm-toledo-valentine-theatre?gclid=.
