Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter Pens Racy TV Pilot
Rep. Thad McCotter's TV pilot takes away "any shard of dignity left."
July 5, 2012 -- Rep. Thaddeus McCotter failed to gin up much interest in his short-lived presidential campaign. Then the Republican failed to get on the ballot in Michigan so he had to drop his bid for re-election to Congress.
His political career flailing, McCotter now hopes to succeed in the arts. He has written a TV pilot, according to The Detroit News.
Mayberry it isn't, according to the News, which describes McCotter's creative endeavor as chock full of "banter about drinking, sex, race, flatulence, puking and women's anatomy."
If any congressman is qualified to make the jump from politics to screenwriting, it might be McCotter, 46, who is one of the quirkiest lawmakers in Washington. He's the lead guitarist in a congressional rock band. He makes campaign videos brimming with cringe-worthy fruit puns. And he quotes John Lennon in House floor speeches.
To his friends, at least, McCotter's latest foray into coarse screenwriting is "no surprise."
"Whatever Thad chooses to do will be outside the norm," said former Rep. Kenny Hulshof, who plays drums with McCotter in their bipartisan band, The Second Amendments. "Everybody has a unique personality and Thad's is especially unique.
"There's very little that Thaddeus could do that would surprise me," Hulshof, a Missouri Republican, said, noting that "if any retiring member [of Congress] could make it [in Hollywood] Thaddeus could."
McCotter did not return ABC News' request for comment.
His script for the 42-minute pilot episode of "Bumper Sticker: Made On Motown" was leaked to the Detroit News by a disgruntled former member of McCotter's congressional staff. The episode stars McCotter as the host of an off-color fictional talk show in which he banters with an array of characters based off his congressional staffers and his brother.
The guests lewdly chide McCotter for his failed presidential bid and for botching a petition drive to qualify for re-election. McCotter, who will vacate his House seat at the end of his term, told the Detroit News that creating the show was "cathartic" because it proved there were worse things in life than his congressional and presidential failures, like being trapped in a bad TV show that takes away "any shard of dignity left."
Hulshof said McCotter was "genuinely disappointed" that his presidential bid fizzled nearly as soon as it started. McCotter never met the polling threshold of 1 percent support to appear in a national presidential debate.
"That was something I think he was hoping for or counting on not necessarily to propel him as a front-runner but to give his candidacy a little more legitimacy," Hulshof said.
While Hulshof has not seen the script, he said, the show seemed fitting because McCotter's sense of humor has always been "self-depreciating" and "outside the norm."
"In a matter of words, he can be humorous and rip you to shreds," Hulshof told ABC News.
McCotter told the Detroit News that the show was "deliberately designed to be a train wreck" in order to further humiliate the main character, aka himself.
"The very fact that people wouldn't find that funny and the suffering of the protagonist of having to be involved in it was what was funny," McCotter said.
The script is not McCotter's first foray into writing. He published a book, "Seize Freedom!" in 2011. And was "fairly prolific on the song-writing front," Hulshof said.
Whether it's writing rock 'n' roll songs or quixotic screenplays, Hulshof said, McCotter would likely be doing something "nontraditional" after he leaves Congress in January.
"I don't know where he goes," Hulshof said. "Who knows, maybe he could be the new 'Sham Wow' guy. I don't know."
Related Stories
ABC News Live