THE
INCUMBENTS THE
INCUMBENTS
The Incumbents may be Maine’s answer to The Capitol Steps, the famed touring troupe specializing in
political parody songs.
Where the Steps are melodic and
Broadway-influenced, The Incumbents are edgier, more comedy-based and cover
everyone from Pink Floyd to Amy Winehouse and Johnny Cash. The young, passionate vocalists and the
seasoned band members deliver an evening of rollicking laughter and relief from the intense
political issues and divisions that make us wish for Zima in a pill form..
Unabashedly liberal, sometimes
scathingly conservative, The Incumbents grew out of years of political
radio comedy plays written and directed by Dan Bernard, Portland humorist. The
award-winning “Search for Bin Laden” (2001) began a string of song
parodies that came to life in 2004’s staged political musical comedy, “Fool
Me Once,” which ran for the six weeks leading up the 2004 Presidential
election at Portland’s Comedy Connection. The show featured figures such as
George W. Bush, John and Teresa Heinz Kerry, John Edwards, Abu Ghraib’s Lynddie
England, Donald Trump, Michael Moore and many others singing, dancing, and
performing political sketches.
New songs and sketches continued to surface on stages around Portland, Boston and Toronto, with the excited and enthusiastic critical and audience response to the songs giving rise to a band dedicated to the genre. The Incumbents features professional musicians with impressive credentials on bass, guitar, drums and sax backing a duo of young singers with decades of performing experience behind them.
VENUES: The Comedy Connection, Portland, Maine - The Comedy Studio, Cambridge, Massachusetts - St. Lawrence Arts Center, Portland, Maine - Deep Wireless Festival, Toronto, Canada - University of Southern Maine - WMPG