- Tech
-
-
Tech
The gadgets, platforms, and software that make your digital life possible. if it bleeps, clicks or blinks, you’ll find it here.
-
Categories
-
-
Latest
- YouTube is fueling the rise in flat earth believers Monday 11:04 AM
- Scathing privacy report calls Facebook a ‘digital gangster’ Monday 10:50 AM
- Report: Google used shell companies to build data centers, obtain tax breaks Sunday 3:38 PM
- Facebook pushes back against moderators complaining about ‘Big Brother’ environment Saturday 12:46 PM
- Twitter hid post from an account linked to Iran’s Supreme Leader Saturday 10:17 AM
-
-
-
- Internet Culture
-
-
Internet Culture
There’s a community for everyone online.
-
Categories
-
-
Latest
- ‘Fake plane challenge’ takes off on TikTok Monday 8:15 PM
- Video meme of a mom dancing with her kids goes viral—again Monday 7:26 PM
- ‘Due to personal reasons’ meme enables questionable behavior Monday 3:36 PM
- Why do white rappers write lyrics about being good hypothetical dads? Monday 3:29 PM
- People are Googling Rihanna and their birthday in a Twitter challenge Monday 2:13 PM
-
-
-
- Streaming
-
-
Streaming
You’ve cut the cord—now what?
-
Categories
-
-
Latest
- Why do white rappers write lyrics about being good hypothetical dads? Monday 3:29 PM
- Ken Jeong falls back on crude humor and lazy stereotypes in ‘You Complete Me, Ho’ Monday 12:24 PM
- YouTube is fueling the rise in flat earth believers Monday 11:04 AM
- 21 Savage goes deep on 21 Savage memes Monday 10:49 AM
- Man delighted to find 30-year-old computer still works Sunday 5:32 PM
-
-
-
- IRL
-
-
IRL
Where your off- and online identities collide.
-
Categories
-
-
Latest
- Major U.S. airlines will soon implement nonbinary gender options Monday 10:21 AM
- ‘Subtle Asian Dating’ is the un-Tinder we all need right now Monday 5:00 AM
- Conservatives feel vindicated by new developments in Jussie Smollett case (updated) Sunday 12:19 PM
- ‘Hipster’ jobs are trending, and Indeed says the market is booming Saturday 3:33 PM
- Writers want this book canceled for misgendering its protagonist Friday 12:15 PM
-
-
-
- Social
-
-
Social
If it happens online, it’s here.
-
Categories
-
-
Latest
- ‘Fake plane challenge’ takes off on TikTok Monday 8:15 PM
- Video meme of a mom dancing with her kids goes viral—again Monday 7:26 PM
- ‘Due to personal reasons’ meme enables questionable behavior Monday 3:36 PM
- Why do white rappers write lyrics about being good hypothetical dads? Monday 3:29 PM
- Roger Stone posts, then deletes, Instagram of his judge with small crosshairs next to her Monday 2:32 PM
-
-
-
- Bazaar
-
-
Bazaar
The Bazaar specializes in the stuff you don’t actually need…but you really, really want.
-
Categories
-
-
Latest
- 14 artsy cartoon mugs that’ll help make your days more creative Monday 12:15 PM
- Get your nerd on with ThinkGeek’s Funko Pop B2G1 sale Monday 3:00 AM
- Play all your NES games in high def with the Hyperkin RetroN HD Tuesday 8:39 AM
- The Introvert Activity Book is perfect for those who find solace in alone time Monday 11:30 AM
- Essential tips and tools to make your sex life deeper Monday 9:29 AM
-
-
-
- More
- Search
See all Editor's Picks →
See all Popular →
Represented by Complex Media, Inc. for advertising sales.
Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Ethics
Latest
- ‘Fake plane challenge’ takes off on TikTok Monday 8:15 PM
- Video meme of a mom dancing with her kids goes viral—again Monday 7:26 PM
- ‘Due to personal reasons’ meme enables questionable behavior Monday 3:36 PM
- Why do white rappers write lyrics about being good hypothetical dads? Monday 3:29 PM
- Roger Stone posts, then deletes, Instagram of his judge with small crosshairs next to her Monday 2:32 PM
- People are Googling Rihanna and their birthday in a Twitter challenge Monday 2:13 PM
- Here are all of the Fortnite earthquake cracks thus far Monday 1:21 PM
- New Apex Legends characters leaked by data miners Monday 12:36 PM
- Ken Jeong falls back on crude humor and lazy stereotypes in ‘You Complete Me, Ho’ Monday 12:24 PM
- 14 artsy cartoon mugs that’ll help make your days more creative Monday 12:15 PM
- Netflix cancels ‘Jessica Jones’ and ‘The Punisher’ Monday 11:26 AM
- YouTube is fueling the rise in flat earth believers Monday 11:04 AM
- Review: Crackdown 3 is not a world worth saving Monday 11:00 AM
- Scathing privacy report calls Facebook a ‘digital gangster’ Monday 10:50 AM
- 21 Savage goes deep on 21 Savage memes Monday 10:49 AM
Meet the actor who plays a depraved Kenneth Starr in ‘Clinton: The Musical’

Everything old is new (and funny) again.
While many Americans of the Internet Age might look back on Bill Clinton’s presidency, recall the Monica Lewinsky scandal with a chuckle, and immediately go about their business, the story of our 42nd president’s sex scandal seized the imaginations of two brothers down under.
Australian composers Paul and Michael Hodge, seeking material for their next stage show, looked into the Clinton presidency (on the advice of their father) with an eye toward harvesting it for a musical comedy. Boy, have they succeeded. This is a story every American of a certain age knows—though perhaps not as well as they would had it taken place in a world with Twitter—but the brothers Hodge have made it interesting all over again, and then they went and made it funny too.
The delightfully unconventional production of Clinton: The Musical at New World Stages in Manhattan features two Bill Clintons, often on stage at the same time—one to portray his younger, wilder side, and one to portray the diligent elder statesman. It’s a storytelling gamble that rewards the audience with that much more comedy, and it’s a joy to watch them play off of each other.

From left to right: Tom Galantich, Kerry Butler, and Duke Lafoon as WJ Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Billy Clinton, respectively.
JTPR
The female roles are brilliant. As this is, at its essence, a story of sex scandal, producer Kari Lynn Hearn paid special attention to how the Hillary and Monica characters were presented, and these portrayals evolved as the show went through smaller iterations. Kerry Butler (Hillary) and Veronica Kuehn (Monica) deliver memorable performances and sing songs that will haunt you as you walk back to the subway after the show, and veteran standup comedian Judy Gold has no problem inciting laughs in her various smaller roles throughout the production.
The standout comic star of the show, however, is Kevin Zak, who portrays Kenneth Starr of Starr Report fame as a hyper-sexualized, Gollum-like creature with BDSM tendencies. Zak caught up with the Daily Dot phone to talk further about the show.

Kevin Zak (L) as Kenneth Starr and John Treacy Egan (R) as Newt Gingrich.
JTPR
“There’s a little bit of Gollum in there for sure,” said Zak. “If you watch Ken Starr on YouTube, he’s probably the exact opposite—bland and boring. I make him cartoony to give him campiness. It’s not mean-spirited—I’m obviously nothing like him, and it’s obvious when you see the show.”
Zak’s been with the show for a year and a half, with inroads made not with a formal audition, but by being a scene-reader to help audition others. At the end of the day, the producers asked him to audition as well.
“Thank God I got it,” said Zak.

Judy Gold, ensemble, and Veronica Kuehn as Monica Lewinsky.
JTPR
In preparation for the role, Zak read the Starr Report during rehearsals.
“It’s extraordinarily explicit,” he said. “Paul [Hodge] got the idea that Starr was sexually obsessed with Bill Clinton. The report includes everything they did. The cigar, other unmentionables.” The pieces come together in Zak’s crazed, animalistic portrayal of Starr, the memory of which has this writer smiling as he types these words.
Word about the show is getting around in the theater world. Stephen Sondheim was in the audience for the same show I saw (a high-profile Broadway sighting that Zak confirms), so consider yourself hip to the jive: There is musical political satire gold being mined at New York’s New World Stages. Get yourself there.
Photos via JT Public Relations

Dylan Love
Dylan Love is an editorial consultant and journalist whose reporting interests include emergent technology, digital media, and Russian language and culture. He is a former staff writer for the Daily Dot, and his work has been published by Business Insider, International Business Times, Men's Journal, and the Next Web.