A Fiesta comedy show known for its raunchy, R-rated humor is having a field day poking fun at Congress’ bad behavior this past year.
In particular, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado), who was kicked out of a Denver theater for vaping and reportedly groping her companion during a performance of “Beetlejuice” last fall, and U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), who was rumored to be having an affair with her gym manager, took the brunt of this year’s jokes at Cornyation, which features performers in drag and calls itself “adult-oriented satire.”
An early skit, titled “Legislative Libertines,” suggested today’s politically-divided Congress is more likely to work together on sexual or drug-related endeavors than policy making.
Actors depicting Boebert and Greene were shown with scissors for legs (implying a romantic relationship between the two) and an actor playing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R- South Carolina) was shown performing a sex act on a turtle shell-wearing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).
Later the actors took aim at Gov. Greg Abbott and promised to thoroughly roast San Antonio’s mayoral hopefuls in 2025.
Cornyation started in 1951 as a family-oriented satire of the Coronation of the Queen of the Order of the Alamo. It was shut down the 1960s, revived in the 1980s, and has since grown into one of Fiesta’s most popular events, known in part for its biting political commentary.
The three-night, adults-only performance is sponsored by local businesses, with proceeds benefitting various AIDS nonprofits, a resource center for homeless LGBTQ+ youth and an arts scholarship. Additional shows will take place at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday.
“Welcome to your friendly, Fiesta neo-liberal echo chamber,” Cornyation’s Master of Ceremonies Mindy Miller Hill said as she greeted guests at the packed Charline McCombs Empire Theatre.
“We’re lifting the skirts of our crumbling republic for your viewing pleasure,” chimed her co-host, Payton Kane.
2024 Cornyation skits
One of this year’s most popular skits took aim at Texas’ book bans. It opened to Gene Wilder’s “Pure Imagination,” then depicted Abbott rounding up books like The Catcher in the Rye and Brave New World with razor wire and setting them ablaze to the Trammps’ “Disco Inferno.”
Boebert and Greene were also popular targets, particularly for their personal life exploits. The former was dubbed “Colorado’s own miss matinee hand job,” and the latter, “a braindead Georgia cougar bouncing burpees off her personal trainer” by Miller Hill.
Boebert later appeared in a Beetlejuice skit about celebrities who keep winding up in the news for the wrong reasons.
“Attention is an addiction, and some people just keep bouncing off rock bottom like a trampoline,” Miller Hill said as she introduced that act.
It ended with an actor depicting pop star Britney Spears, who made headlines for posting a video of herself dancing with knives, decapitating Boebert, disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) and Abbott.
(Abbott was also killed off at Cornyation in 2023, which focused heavily on the GOP presidential primary.) This year’s approaching presidential election received only passing references Tuesday night.
President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was depicted briefly in his underwear snorting confetti cocaine into the audience — a reference to the latter’s admitted history of drug addiction.
But Kane complained that a race between Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump was too boring to satirize.
“The wheels on the bus are falling off and the best we can muster is another round of Sleepy versus Dopey?” he said, referring to Snow White’s fictional companions.
To close out the night, however, he vowed that next year’s open mayoral race would provide excellent fodder.
“We can’t wait to see all of you next year… for the biennial, completely nonpartisan San Antonio Shi*tty Council Hunger Games,” Kane said.
