The first weekend of February is filled with events to ring in the Lunar New Year and the day you can’t forget, Groundhog Day. Start your weekend at a comedic performance mocking historical figures, spend your Saturday celebrating the Lunar New Year and round it out with clairvoyant Potomac Phil on Groundhog Day.
Friday
‘The Time Machine Roast’
The Kennedy Center will host comedians to play and mock different historical figures at the show “The Time Machine Roast.” The performers, who pride themselves on telling the “most historically accurate jokes,” will take on historical figures ranging from emperors to inventors and poke fun at their outfits and slip-ups during their lives. The venue, the Club at Studio K, is a smaller and more intimate stage than other rooms in the Kennedy Center, making it an ideal space for a comedy show.
Club at Studio K, Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW, 7:30 p.m., tickets start at $20.
Saturday
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Lunar New Year Celebration
The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China and the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Tourism, Radio and Television are teaming up to host Lunar New Year celebrations Saturday. The day will start at 11:30 a.m. with a Lion Awakening Ritual, a traditional dance in Chinese culture in which performers mimic the movement of a lion, inside the museum’s courtyard. The opening act will be followed by a traditional ribbon dancing, diabolo acrobatics and an interactive magic show until the day wraps up at about 3 p.m.
Kogod Courtyard of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, F and 8th streets NW, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., free.
Sunday
Groundhog Day at Dupont Circle Park
Potomac Phil will make his annual appearance in Dupont Circle Park Sunday to predict how many weeks of winter are left, and, because we’re in D.C., the future of politics this year. The National Groundhog is expected to wake up and look for his shadow, or lack thereof, at 8:30 a.m. But attendees can stay in the park after the announcement to listen to live accordion music, participate in a polka dance and watch a puppet show.
Dupont Circle Park, 8:30 to 9 a.m., free.
