Greg Shapiro Guests at the ‘SNL of the EU’: The Schuman Show
Greg Shapiro Guests at the ‘SNL of the EU’: The Schuman Show
27 October, 2021
For years, I’ve been wondering why the EU doesn’t have a late night comedy show. I’ve even been trying to make one myself since 2014. But now there’s a new kid on the block: the Brussels monthly series called The Schuman Show. You see, Robert Schuman is one of the founders of the European Union. And The Truman Show is a movie from the 90s. Together, this is apparently enough to generate a full audience in Brussels. A very full audience. As I found out when I took part in October.
YOUTUBE: EuroNews: The Schuman Show: or how to poke fun at EU politics
The Schuman Show is the brainchild of Kelly Agathos, an expat who started out inside ‘the Brussels Bubble.’
These days, Kelly is the founder of ‘ImproBubble’ – the closest thing to a Boom Chicago comedy theater in Belgium. I made contact with Kelly and said I’d be interested in seeing a show someday. She turned around and asked if I would want to participate in the October edition of The Schuman Show. I said “YES, AND.”
I was invited to improvise a scene – as Donald Trump – interacting with an improvised Angela Merkel. Merkel would be played by Barry McKeon, a crowd favorite. Based on current events – Merkel would be at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, and Trump would ambush her backstage, since he was in Scotland to play golf and had no idea there was a summit going on.
The show started out with a cold open, reminiscent of Saturday Night Live. In which EU commission President Ursula ‘VDL’ von der Leyen has to deal with Poland and cutting off their funding. The scene ended in a rap battle called ’99 Problems But a Budget Ain’t One.’ There were sketches, songs, improvisations. And then I played my Trump imitation – probably too well. Wow, that crowd hated Trump! And they loved Angela poking holes in Trump’s thin skin.
Next up, I got to drop the Trump imitation and improvise as myself. With the other actors, I took part in a game of ‘Worlds Worst.’ The audience shouted out ‘Consultant.’ And as ‘World’s Worst Consultant,’ I simply said “Hi, I work for McKenzie.” And I got a huge laugh! Always gratifying to get a laugh based on an article I read in The Economist.
There was a sketch about James Bond trying – and failing – to infiltrate EU bureaucracy. There was an opening monologue about the news of the week. And there was a folk song about ‘The Answer My Friend Is Blowing Lots of Wind.’ With regular contributors to politico.eu.
There was a sketch about James Bond trying – and failing – to infiltrate EU bureaucracy. There was an opening monologue about the news of the week. And there was a folk song about ‘The Answer My Friend Is Blowing Lots of Wind.’ With regular contributors to politico.eu.
The Schuman Show according to Kelly Agathos:
“A Late-Night-meets-SNL variety show; I am the host and open with a monologue. It’s called The Schuman Show (named after Robert Schuman, one of the founders of the European Union, but also the name of a roundabout in the heart of Brussels’ European quarter- a bit like what K Street is for Washington).
Little by little, I found some Brussels-based folks from the local stand up and improv scene, and The Schuman show was born.
We’ve received a lot of attention and we have plans to put more content online in the future, so that we can really reach a large Europe-wide audience and finally make ‘Boring Brussels’ funny, interesting and relevant to the average citizen.”
