An attorney in Washington D.C., Strauss was the chief counsel and staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Government Processes. At a party he hosted in 1981, he and his guests engaged in a bit of a jam session to parody their Capitol Hill government jobs.
Strauss realized that despite his lack of musical training, he had a gift for ad-libbed musical satire. He turned it into a business, founding Capitol Steps, a musical parody troop, with other Hill staffers. The group had plenty of material to work with, thanks to their inside connections, and were quickly a hit, performing in area venues as well as private parties held by politicians.
Capitol Steps now has 40 employees and does $3 million in bookings every year. Strauss also wrote serious books, satirical books, and musicals. “He packed several lifetimes into his 60 years,” said Steps co-founder Elaina Newport. He died December 18 from pancreatic cancer. He was 60.
Update: The Capitol Steps finally “turned off the stage lights” in 2021.