By Mike Johnson
Parody may be my favorite form of comedy.
For over 60 years, our Rotary club presented an annual show that spoofed the town.
It was wildly popular.
No matter your title or achievement, you weren’t validated as a big deal until lampooned in the Rotary show.
For eight years, I was a writer for the show.
My favorite skit was K-O-L-D News.
The call letters were a twist on our local radio station KODI.
Cody is too small to have a TV station, but that didn’t stop us Rotarians from pretending.
Like “Weekend Update” on Saturday Night Live, I was able to write and read parody news stories, targeted at locals, delivered with a straight face and tone of authority.
Cindy Miller is pictured here as one of my KOLD co-anchors.
The club recently held a reunion party that attracted current and past Rotarians, some who have been in the club over 50 years.
It was held at Cody’s leading entertainment venue the Cody Cattle Company.
I was asked to provide an encore performance of our greatest hits from our KOLD News.
I selected show-writing cohort Lisa Peterman as my co-anchor.
Here are the KOLD News stories we presented: KOLD News Greatest Hits
Lisa and I laughed just as hard as when we'd performed in the show years ago.
Better, the crowd belly-laughed just as uncontrollably as we’d hoped.
Best of all, now I get to tell all my friends, with a straight face and authoritive tone, "I headlined at the Cody Cattle Company.”
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Under the Direction of Ron Howard
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