Laughing Liberally Live on January 6

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Politics is often sad and infuriating, but it can also be funny even at its saddest, most infuriating moments. Laughing Liberally Milwaukee began as a regular progressive comedy event in local venues where progressive comedians—including a troupe called the Accountants of Homeland Security—poked fun the state of union. During Covid, it shifted to the still-running twice-monthly podcast on shepherdexpress.com and after health fears eased, Laughing Liberally returned to occasional live performances.

And there is a major occasion to observe, one of the saddest episodes of recent American political history, the January 6 2021 insurrection. On Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, they will perform “Mike Lindell’s Jan 6-Aversary Starring Mike Lindell.” The CEO of My Pillow, Lindell shifted his focus from bedsheets to conspiracy theories under Trump, using his platform (made of pillows?) to promote bogus Covid claims and the Big Lie about the 2020 election. He was at the big rally where Putin’s American friend riled up the mob that stormed the Capitol and later claimed that the insurrectionists were antifa “dressed up as Trump supporters.”

“Ever since Mike Lindell rose to semi-prominence as this conspiracy theory peddling, election results denying, far right-wing radical lunatic, one of the Accountants, Zach Zajac, has been playing him and mocking him regularly at Laughing Liberally MKE shows,” says Laughing Liberally’s Matthew Filipowicz. “And his impression of him is really, really funny. When the Accountants were looking to book a show, one of the dates available was January 6. We’re a political sketch comedy troupe. This is one of the most significant political events in the last several decades. We jumped at it. We had been playing around with the idea with framing a show around Lindell and everything fell into place with booking a show on the anniversary of the coup.” 

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January 6 ranks with 9-11 and Dec. 7 1941 as national/international catastrophes. How do the events of January 6 lend themselves to humor? What’s funny about trying to destroy our republic? 

“One thing that satire and comedy can do is draw attention to uncomfortable truths in a hopefully humorous way,” Filipowicz continues. “From both a comedic standpoint and a survival of the republic standpoint, we’re lucky because these right-wing jack-ass traitors lost. It was a failed coup attempt. What’s important to remember is that there is still a sizeable portion of our country that believes that the coup attempt was justified. The last poll I saw was like 70 percent of Republicans believed the 2020 election was stolen. Let that sink in. The truth is this show is less about the actual events of January 6 and more about the looming dark cloud of those who support it or want to pretend it never happened. But it’s funny! A funny, funny looming dark cloud.”

According to Filipowicz, Lindell and the failed coup will be the frame for the Accountants’ set with other political sketches in the middle. Also on the bill is Milwaukee’s Broadminded. “I don’t know what sketches our friends at Broadminded are planning to perform, but I don’t believe they’re January 6 related. However, I’m sure they’ll be hysterical,” Filipowicz says.