Rap Master Ronnie is the name of severalmusicalcomedies developed byGarry Trudeau andElizabeth Swados throughout the 1980s, including a 1984off-Broadway "partisan revue," amusic video, and amade for TV movie starringThe Smothers Brothers,Carol Kane, andJon Cryer. The shows all share the same basic structure of a fauxcampaign ad forRonald Reagan, satirizing hissocial policies, particularly those regarding drugs and minorities. The shows received largely mixed reviews.
Garry Trudeau was a vocal critic of Reagan throughout his presidency, and devoted considerable space in his comic stripDoonesbury to attacking his policies, administration, and Reagan himself. In the early 1980s, Trudeau took a hiatus from the strip to writeDoonesbury: A Musical Comedy, aBroadway show that brought an end to many of the strip's long running story lines in anticipation ofrebooting it in a format that eliminated itsfloating timeline and allowed the characters to age and grow. In addition to the play's narrative, it also featured several self-contained sketches satirizing the Reagan administration; after the play closed, Trudeau and Swados decided to expand on the sketches and turn them into their own show, timing the release to the1984 presidential election.[1]
Amusic video was produced in conjunction with the play, to be used as a satiricalfundraising tape by theSan FranciscoDemocratic Party. The video was shot on location inWashington, D.C., and featured professional Reagan impersonator Robert H. Schmidt as well as severalbreak dancers credited as "The Doonesbury Break Crew".[2]
In 1985, the play was revived in Los Angeles.[3]
Four years later, as Reagan's presidency drew to a close, Swados and Trudeau updated the show as amade for TV movie that aired on late nightCinemax in 1988 as part of the network's comedy programming block "Cinemax Comedy Experiment." This version was titled "Rap Master Ronnie: A Report Card".[4]
The play is presented as sixteen interlinking musical numbers, each attacking some political position of Reagan's or examining the effectsReaganomics had on the American economy and culture of the 1980s. The story is presented within aframe narrative of Ronald Reagan,Nancy Reagan,Edwin Meese, and severalSecret Service agents (who serve as thechorus) taking a limo into theinner city to film acampaign ad encouraging blacks to vote for him.[1] Despite the title, only the opening number is performed in the style ofold-school hip hop, with the remainder of the songs being 1980s stylepop.
The play received generally mixed to positive reviews.The New York Times praised the more overtly satirical numbers, particularly those related to Reagan's job policies and views on women's rights, but criticized Trudeau's efforts to be more serious, calling them "more sincere than compelling". TheTimes also criticized the play's portrayal of minorities, calling them "abstractions, not characters."[1] Conversely, the television movie was negatively reviewed, with theLos Angeles Times calling it "incessantly unfunny" and criticizing the show for reusing the same jokes that several other comedians had been using about Reagan for years, without enough original material or insights.[4]
TheSimpsons 1994 episode "Homer Loves Flanders" parodies the show as "Rappin' Ronnie Reagan," anovelty song that Homer owns on cassette tape. The show is referenced again in the episode "Lisa on Ice", withKent Brockman delivering a sensationalized news headline: "President Reagandyes... his hair, says Garry Trudeau in his new musical comedy revue!"
