I've never watched the show, but I've seen a lot of Steppenwiolf plays and never found them pretentious or arty...
"The first scene of Tuesday's episode, penned by Robert and Michelle King, was set at a fundraiser in a hotel ballroom. "And now as dinner is served," says the hostess, "Steppenwolf Theatre will entertain us with scenes from their hit play, 'The Cow With No Country.'"
Yeah, that's credible. Steppenwolf does bits of its shows in hotel ballrooms all the time. Just as the beef is served.
And with that introduction, a motley and pathetic little group of ragamuffin actors popped out, replete with their crude puppet-cow and all, and do some kind of whacked-out performance that lands somewhere between moronic Medieval drama, pantomime, Bertolt Brecht and "Jack and the Beanstalk."
Fake English accents and all. We kid you not.
The Midwestern rubes were putting on a show.
The fictional politicos snicker at the childishness of it all."
The commenters seem to think it's an in-joke among friends. Anyone have any guesses. Sounds pretty stupid to me.
See a play instead