As the 2026 election cycle enters its final weeks of campaigning, the issue of “politics” and “elections” has taken on a serious tone.
With State Constitutional amendments, Honolulu City Charter amendments, as well as the choosing of candidates for office on the ballot, campaigns for all are working hard to create a convincing closing argument that their idea, man or woman, is a better choice than the alternative.
And for those who are “in it to win it”, joking about any of this stuff is verboten.
So thank goodness for the Hawaiʻi Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. On Saturday, the 24th of October, a gathering of journalists and media professionals took place at Murphyʻs Bar and Grille in Chinatown to bring back the essence of a long-cherished event – Gridiron Hawaiʻi.
The title of it harkened back to the past, but identified the present – “SPJ Follies – Gridiron Survivors and Wannabes.”
Gridiron, for those political pundit veterans, was an evening where media professionals from across the industry – from TV to print to even the political consultancy would come together on stage at Diamond Head Theater to perform skits parodying the issues of the day and the people involved in it.
At its height, it was a hot ticket to get because it would sell out so quickly. Getting a seat was a bit like winning the lottery. Attending Gridiron gave the community an opportunity to have a laugh and see the issues of the day in a less-serious light.
The event ended with the outbreak of COVID, and it never came back. There was always talk about bringing it back, but the opportunity and the shifting tides in media kept that wish out of reach.
But thanks to SPJ leaders like Stirling Morita, the current SPJ Hawaiʻi President, and others on the committee, including Emmy Award-winning news director Janice Gin; Denby Fawcett, a longtime journalist and current columnist for Civil Beat; and Lynette Lo Tom, a former TV reporter, Star-Advertiser food writer, and now owner of Bright Light Marketing, the event was brought back to life.
Its return was more than just showing videos of the past and using that as the whole performance. Instead, veteran performers spanning from Lance Rae (Executive VP, TLC PR) to Chad Blair (Civil Beat) to Cathy Foy (veteran entertainer) took to the stage to provide a humorous look at various political stories that have happened in Hawaiʻi in 2026.
Those stories included Ben Guiterrez (HNN) playing the role of hapless State Chief Election Officer Scott Nago, shaking an oversized lauhala box, filled with two oversized “eggs” that were the main tools used to break the ties in two Republican legislative races that tied up during the primary.
Even a former Governor made an appearance, in the form of, of course, another key player – Dan Cooke (HNN, formerly of KITV) playing the role of Linda Lingle. This performance was truly tongue-in-cheek when, at one point, “Lingle” compared her administration and Lt. Governor to that of the situation with the current Lt. Governor (Sylvia Luke, who is on leave), saying that she didnʻt have a LG who was mired in scandal.
Talking about elected officials, current Governor Josh Green also made an appearance, through the talent of Keoki Kerr (Hawaiʻi State Teachers Assn. Director of Communications), in which the skit was narrated through a play on the song “Jolene” by Dolly Parton.
There was even a skit – portrayed as a Hawaiʻi Public Radio piece – in which Catherine Cruz (Hawaiʻi Public Radio) interviewed a Monk Seal who had a rock thrown at it by a tourist on Maui, a turtle (honu), a chicken who stated that they were indigenous to Hawaiʻi, and a peacock at the end, played by Chad Blair. All talked about the fuss made over the issue and their take on it.
Finally, we hear the animals’ point of view! And it was hilarious!
All performances aside, which were on-the-nose topic-wise, the event was designed as a fundraiser first and foremost of all. As with Gridiron being a fundraiser for the Society of Professional Journalists Hawaiʻi Chapter for itʻs internship program, this event reinvigorated that fundraiser to give more young people the chance to work in journalism.
There were lucky draws, a silent auction, a sold-out bake sale, and even some last-minute auctioneering of items, to the surprise of this blogger, Maleko McDonnell (United Public Workers Communications, formerly from KITV). Again, all to fundraise for journalist internships.
Although the journalism industry has changed and shrunk over the years, with new forms of media coming into the fold (including this blog, Politics Hawaii), one thing has not changed. There is still plenty of material out there to poke fun at – elections, scandals, and even the occasional absurdity of politics itself.
And it’s performances like this that, to this blogger, are more needed than ever. Because it’s important that we have the ability to laugh at things, taking the issues of the day apart and portraying them in a more humorous light.
Political satire allows us to poke fun at our elected officials, the decisions they make, and sometimes the absurdities of the political process itself. It doesn’t mean the issues are any less serious. Rather, it gives us a different way of looking at them, taking some of the sharp edges off discussions that can, at times, feel very starchy and maybe a bit too blunt for regular people to digest.
Yes, there is a place for the serious stuff, and since the last Gridiron, there has certainly been no shortage of serious issues for people to argue about. But we also need room to laugh at the political process, the personalities involved, and perhaps even ourselves for taking some of this stuff so seriously.
Because sometimes, laughing at politics helps us put it all into perspective.