The city\u2019s political elite packed into a black-tie ballroom Saturday night to watch their own get skewered \u2014 and this year, the main target was Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n
Journalists took the stage at the annual Inner Circle dinner and turned the Ziegfield Theater into a musical-style roast of City Hall, with song parodies, costumes and one-liners aimed at the mayor and his administration.<\/p>\n
The Inner Circle dinner, a long-running event produced by journalists who cover city politics, combines a charity gala with a staged parody show.<\/p>\n
Jeff Coltin, dressed as Mayor Zohran Mamdani, performs during the Inner Circle\u2019s 2026 dinner at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York.<\/p>\n
The event takes its name after a group of New York political reporters who had insider access to City Hall.<\/p>\n
The show opened with a jab.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood evening comrade, I\u2019m Dean Fuleihan,\u201d one reporter said, introducing Jeff Coltin \u2014 who played Mamdani \u2014 to laughs from the crowd.<\/p>\n
Coltin, editor-in-chief of City & State, wore an apron with no shirt underneath, a nod to a past Mamdani music video appearance.<\/p>\n
The show unfolded as a multi-act revue, with reporters performing parody songs and playing exaggerated versions of political figures.<\/p>\n
Jeff Coltin appears onstage as Mayor Zohran Mamdani, donning an apron during the Inner Circle\u2019s 2026 dinner at the Ziegfeld.<\/p>\n
Coltin, who skewered Mamdani, is editor-in-chief of City & State. Anthony Behar for Inner Circle<\/p>\n
One number, \u201cMamdani Math,\u201d set to \u201cPink Pony Club,\u201d drew some of the biggest laughs of the night.<\/p>\n
Other skits targeted members of the administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m first deputy major mayor \u2014 it\u2019s almost the same job I had, you know, with Bill de Blasio,\u201d said an actor portraying Dean Fuleihan.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut why did I come back? Did you ever hear of Hot girls for Zara? Besides, I\u2019m the experienced hand behind all of these wacky doodle socialists in City Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n
The real Dean Fuleihan was in the room as the line drew laughs.<\/p>\n
Hazel Sanchez takes the stage during the Inner Circle\u2019s 2026 dress rehearsal at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. Anthony Behar for Inner Circle<\/p>\n
Another reporter in the show took aim at the mayor\u2019s communications team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Dora Pekec, a senior spokeswoman for the mayor\u2026 even though I\u2019m only 26,\u201d the performing journalist said.<\/p>\n
The show also featured portrayals of former Mayor Eric Adams, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, radio host John Catsimatidis and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa \u2014 all played by reporters.<\/p>\n
Other songs and skits referenced city issues including transit and housing, with mentions of proposals such as free buses.<\/p>\n
Magee Hickey (left), Polly Kreisman (center) and Alice Stockton-Rossini perform during the Inner Circle\u2019s 2026 dress rehearsal at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. Anthony Behar for Inner Circle<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s performance followed that format, with reporters taking on the roles of politicians and delivering the jokes from the stage.<\/p>\n
The audience \u2014 a mix of politicians, media figures and other insiders \u2014 reacted with steady laughter throughout the night.<\/p>\n
The event is often compared to the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner, with elected officials in attendance as the subject of the evening\u2019s jokes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city\u2019s political elite packed into a black-tie ballroom Saturday night to watch their own get skewered \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1092,1442,57,9,56,63,65,1093,64,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-178644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-mayor","9":"tag-mayors","10":"tag-metro","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-mayoral-election","16":"tag-nyc-news","17":"tag-us-news","18":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}