‘Nothing’s off limits.’ What it takes to produce the ‘Charlotte Squawks’ show
When attorney Brian Kahn and WFAE “Charlotte Talks” host Mike Collins wrote and performed in the first rendition of “Charlotte Squawks” in 2003, they never dreamed they’d still be at it two decades later.
The parody show, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with “20th Censure-y Squawks”, has become a mainstay of Charlotte entertainment. And with good reason.
If you’re a fan of Broadway musicals or pop culture, a political junkie, follow sports or have ever waited (and waited) in line at the DMV, the show will likely strike a chord. And a musically stellar chord at that, if a recent rehearsal The Charlotte Observer attended is a fair measure of what to expect this year.
The show runs from June 5-28 at Booth Playhouse.
After hearing them harmonize on songs like “The Ballad of Elon Musk” (a play on the musical “Sweeney Todd”) and “On Next Door” (a Les Miz-inspired audience favorite about the not-so-neighborly social media site), it’s worth remembering that at least one Squawks alum, Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, has gone on to star on Broadway in “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.”
“Squawks” is constantly in flux — with fresh material on national and local topics added yearly. But most of the cast has been around awhile.
Out of 11 performers, only Kayla Ferguson is in her first year. And cast member Bobby Tyson, like Collins, has performed in the show since the beginning. Well, almost every year.
Keith Martin, who served as producer, director and choreographer, for the first five editions of “Squawks,” said one year Collins was unavailable. A cardboard cut-out was used in his place.
Martin, an Appalachian State University theater professor, was part of the original team that conceived the show. He ran Charlotte Repertory Theatre for 12 seasons and served in several other artistic roles around town before moving to Boone.
The idea emerged, he said, over breakfast at the beloved, now defunct “Anderson’s Restaurant” on Elizabeth Avenue. Carole Clark, who ran Projects for Nonprofits, invited Martin and Gary DeSantis of WTVI, to brainstorm fundraising concepts for the public TV station.
It was Clark’s idea to do “a satirical revue to parody all things Charlotte,” Martin said. “She brought the whole team together. She even picked up the check.”
“Squawks” has skipped a couple years along the way: once during the COVID pandemic and another time, 17 years ago, when Kahn’s wife gave birth to triplet boys. That was the same year that Kahn, who is the show’s primary writer, stopped performing.
“I like to stay married,” said Kahn, who now has a fourth son.
Kahn and Collins recently spoke to the Observer via Zoom about the show’s early days, how it evolved, and what audiences can expect this time around.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.
The Charlotte Observer: What do you remember about the very first performance of “Charlotte Squawks?”
Collins: It was going to be a one-off, and it was going to be short and not hard to do. There were 32 or 35 songs or something in it, and I was in every other one. I thought, “I have been sold a bill of goods here.”
Kahn: There were 25 bits. I don’t know if they were all songs. (According to Kahn’s records, that ballooned to 42 numbers in the second edition).
Collins: We rehearsed more for that one thing than we do now, and we run longer. It was a fundraiser for WTVI.
Kahn: Yeah, and we were terrible at raising money. We (ticked) off all the sponsors because we made fun of them. They eventually recognized that was bad for business, so they dumped us.
TCO: How did the show come about?
Kahn: Carole Clark and Keith Martin were the driving forces behind the original “Charlotte Squawks” and then we all — Mike, myself and others — got roped in as the thing grew. They needed actors, writers, MC’s, that sort of thing. I had worked with Keith on a lawyer show that was in the North Carolina annual bar convention. We had written a couple parodies that were a similar sort of flavor about lawyers and the practice of law.
Collins: We used to do a lot of things in the original version that have bitten the dust since. Like, we would do poems. Because we didn’t know what it was, we just kind of made this up as it went along. Now it’s kind of an oiled machine. I would think it’s not unlike how “Saturday Night Live” developed, because the first year or two of “Saturday Night Live,” it was a work in progress.
Kahn: We’re still a work in progress.
TCO: What else has changed over the years ?
Collins: I think we did one skit and it bombed so we cut it.
Kahn: (Laughing.) We did a couple skits but they were never as well received as the songs. When we do skits now, they’re more video vignettes. They actually serve a dual purpose: one to be a skit, and two, to allow our actors time to run and change costumes, fix set issues and do all the things they need to do.
Collins: We did a lot more songs than we do now, but the songs are probably longer and they’re more complexly staged than they used to be. But literally, we would go out and get costumes at Walmart.
Kahn: Or we’d raid our own closets.
Collins: I remember the first rehearsal for the first show. There were a bunch of writers and nobody really to arrange the music. So we were handed a piece of paper with lyrics and handed these pieces of sheet music with the real words, and we were doing this (mimics turning head side-to-side) in rehearsal. Now, all the stuff is arranged and it’s printed before the first rehearsal.
Kahn: And there are actual harmonies instead of just trying to figure out what sounds good.
TCO: Who does the music arrangements for you?
Collins: Bill Congdon. We stole him from the tour of “Mamma Mia!” He’s actually been here forever. He started (in Charlotte) but he’s gone on to be the music director of Broadway tours and stuff like that. He’s upped the ante on our musical presentation. And we didn’t used to have a choreographer.
Kahn: She’s amazing, too. In terms of the creative team, it’s Mike, me, Linda (Booth), who’s our choreographer, and Bill. And then, there’s a lot of other people behind the scenes, like stage managers and lights and set designers and costume people. At this point, it’s a huge operation.
Collins: And (we) ought to mention the Blumenthal because it couldn’t happen without them.
Kahn: Yes, (Blumenthal Arts) stepped in (after Martin moved) and have been an amazing producer with us.
Collins: They allowed us to grow and to push the envelope when even they thought, “mmm-mmm.”
TCO: So, the writing team is just you two?
Kahn: I basically write everything except Mike’s monologue, which is always too long.
Collins: That’s true.
Kahn: But I take a lot of suggestions and feedback from everybody in the cast, particularly folks that have been around for a while. They understand the show, they understand the audience. It takes a lot of work to figure out the right combination of song and topic, and where the jokes are.
Collins: What people don’t know because they only hear it once is that Brian, being (a) lawyer, is very careful to make sure that this does qualify as parody. Certain words or vowel sounds in our version are exactly where they appear in the original. It’s not just a bunch of words slapped on a page to fit the notes. He’s meticulous.
Kahn: Yeah, I don’t know if I do that for legal reasons. That may be I’m just anal retentive as opposed to lawyerly.
TCO: At what point do you say, “Yeah, these are the jokes that are going to stick for this year?”
Collins: Well, we have been known to change lyrics in the middle of a run. One year, they changed so quickly that the person performing them walked out with the lyric sheet in their hands. The easiest things to change are the news and the monologue. When you start changing songs, that’s really difficult.
Kahn: There have been songs that we’ve written the week before the show opens because something has happened. Last year when Trump was indicted or something, we did the King George song, “You’ll be back” (from “Hamilton”). That was only a week or two before we opened. (An updated version is part of this year’s show, too.)
TCO: Has it gotten easier or harder to make people laugh about current events?
Collins: It’s different. During the (2008) Obama election, we did a number for all the candidates who were running, and people laughed about them all. But it has become more difficult today. Part of the audience will absolutely love the Trump joke and the other half will get up and leave, or heckle you. We do get some push back. We try to be — we used to try to be balanced.
Kahn: I don’t think we want to be balanced per se. But we want to make sure people know nothing’s off limits. We’re going to make fun of you regardless of side. But if you ask us, are we even left and right? No, we’re not. The right’s going to get it more than the left these days. And who knows, that may change down the road, but the last couple of years, that’s just how our sensibilities come out.
Collins: Before the presidential debate last year, we had a number between Trump and Biden. It was a boxing match number, and I played Biden as a stumbling, bumbling idiot, so we didn’t pull punches on Biden.
Kahn: Some people were pretty upset about that. And then the debate comes out and they’re like, “Oh, well I guess you guys were right.”
TCO: What can people look forward to this year?
Kahn: We’re going to make fun of the Selwyn Pub (to “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan). I think that’s going to be a good number.
Collins: We’re doing a song, “Everybody’s Hurt,” which is to (REM’s) “Everybody Hurts.”
Kahn: It’s about the Hornets, who never seem to be able to field a healthy team.
Collins: And we’re doing a song called “Yellow” (by Coldplay).
Kahn: It’s about pollen and our lovely season that seems to last from — what’s the lyric? — February or March to June. Given that this is our 20th year, we have one big retrospective song (to Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire”) that we’re excited about, as well. Almost everything that we’ve talked about locally over the course of the last 20 years is probably mentioned in this song, which will be a lot of fun.
Collins: So don’t blink, because you’ll miss it. It goes by (he snaps) like that.
Want to go?
What: Charlotte Squawks: 20th Censure-y Squawks
Where: Booth Playhouse, 130 N. Tryon St., Charlotte
When: June 5-28
Tickets and more info: blumenthalarts.org
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This story was originally published June 4, 2025 at 5:35 AM.