BRASÍLIA — One of Brazil’s longest-running spectacles features a dizzying array of characters whose theatrics appear on millions of television sets most nights.

The ever-changing cast of 594 includes suspects accused of murder and drug trafficking, aging former soccer players, a judo champion, a country music star and a collection of bearded men who have adopted roles as leaders of a women’s movement.

The cast even includes a clown who goes by the name Grumpy.

But these are not actors. They are the men and women who serve in the national legislature.

Democracy can be a mystifying, rough-and-tumble affair anywhere, but Brazil’s Congress has few equals.