Editor’s note: This story includes colorful language and adult themes.
The skit writers for Fiesta’s drag-comedy show Cornyation had a field day with a city council that’s spent the past year making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Known for its biting political satire, the opening performance of a three-night set featured “leadership lessons” from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — a reference to the “civility” training that San Antonio City Council made Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones undergo after cursing at a colleague earlier this year.
Jones was actually in the audience Tuesday night, but seemed largely spared from the most humiliating characterizations.
The council skit featured actors dressed as the mayor and her biggest rivals huddled at the Bonham Exchange, a historic LGBTQ+ nightclub at the center of a heated recent council debate.
Earlier this year, Jones and Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1) fought bitterly over differing ideas about how to save the venue from insufficient fire sprinklers.
While much time and money was spent litigating whether Jones’ profanity-laced confrontation tactics should be treated as “workplace violence,” the Cornyation cast noted that the issue of fire safety at their “beloved” Bonham remains unresolved.
“Fear not, our sh**** administrators spared no expense to land a seven-figure sherpa to defuse this incendiary imbroglio,” co-host Johnny Valdivia said — referencing the outside counsel hired to look into Jones’ spat with Kaur.
Valdivia opened the skit by announcing it was “back to school” for a “council of delinquents, divas, drunks and dictators,” who needed leadership training from Mamdani at “the storied Bonham herself.”
Co-host Mindy Miller Hill said that with “a city government in flames,” the venue might be too dangerous.
“It’s hard to stop, drop and roll with your head up your a**,” Valdivia agreed.
The cast depicted progressive champion Mamdani trying to teach Jones how to say, “I’m sorry.” The male actor cast as Jones tried — but gagged every time the words were on his tongue.
Meanwhile, a drag-Marina Alderete Gavito (D7) scampered around in high heels, and a drunk Ivalis Meza Gonzalez (D8) drove a car through the set. A purple-haired Kaur was shown carrying a dog so large it was played by its own actor.
(The real Kaur frequently carries her pup in a sling at public events, while Meza Gonzalez had her second DWI arrest just after taking office.)
A fifth actor appeared to roll District 10’s past and present conservative council members Clayton Perry and Marc Whyte into a single beer bottle-headed character named “Marc Perry.” Both men were also caught driving after drinking while serving on the council.
Miller Hill called the overall Bonham Exchange “brouhaha” a “case study in the power of leadership, comedy and a well placed f***” — apparently referencing Jones’ confession that she dropped “an F-bomb” while arguing with Kaur.
(Some City Hall insiders say Jones actually called Kaur a “f***” during a threatening tirade, while Jones’ defenders contend she was merely explaining her point passionately.)
In the audience with her partner Tuesday night, Jones appeared to be having a good laugh.
Valdivia, meanwhile, said the overall incident was an “education for all taxpayers great and small.”
Throughout the night other popular skits depicted “endless goddamn city construction,” with Valdivia concluding that “project management is not this city’s forte,” and Miller Hill suggesting the downtown development effort known as Project Marvel could “run the kitty — and our patience — dry.”
City Spokesman Brian Chasnoff starred in another skit about the San Antonio Zoo’s luscious new gorilla habitat, which was compared to a luxury resort from the White Lotus.
The cast also devoted much time to Charlie Kirk’s widow and Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk, who starred in an “The All-AmeriKKKan Halftime Show” skit, and later reappeared in a Taylor Swift-themed set about the life of the “political showgirls” behind President Donald Trump’s administration.
The adults-only show will perform twice nightly on Wednesday and Thursday this week, but tickets are largely sold out.
The annual performances have raised over $3 million for charities such as the San Antonio AIDS Foundation, BEAT AIDS, the Thrive Youth Center and scholarships.
Photographer Amber Esparza contributed to this report.
