MARK RUSSELL COMEDY SPECIAL (TV)

Summary

One in this series of comedy/musical specials featuring political satirist Mark Russell. In this program, Russell entertains an audience in-the-round at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Buffalo, NY, with irreverent song parodies and barbed monologues inspired by current events. Topics of satire include the following: President Ronald Reagan's Summit Conference with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow; the revelation that First Lady Nancy Reagan had been consulting an astrologer; the reportedly unfriendly relationship between Raisa Gorbachev and Nancy Reagan; the 1988 presidential election between George Bush and Michael Dukakis; the Democratic convention in Atlanta, Georgia, and the GOP convention in New Orleans, Louisiana; the defense contracting scandal currently engulfing the Washington D.C. power structure; House Speaker Jim Wright's possible financial improprieties with lobbyists; and the planned sequel to Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" authorized by the late author's foundation.

Acquisition and cataloging of this program was made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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