U.S. political satirists from the 1950s-today

PBS provides an excellent selected history of American political satire, dating to Ben Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanack" and continuing through editorial cartoons and on to the fake news cable shows of today.

Daniel Kurtzman's blog is a go-to source on the Web for political humor and cartoons. It's updated daily with jokes,  satire, videos and funny news.

NPR's 2003 interview with the author of the new book "Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s." Gerald Nachman asserts that pioneering humor by the likes of Mort Sahl paved the way for the outspoken comedians of later eras.

Conservative Anthony Daniels, writing in the Los Angeles Times under his pseudonym Theodore Dalrymple, takes popular culture and its impact on society to task. Daniels offers his conviction that many people take their moral and political opinions from celebrities like Bono, Rosie O'Donnell and Jon Stewart -- and it's ruining our ability to think seriously.

"Cyber library" of photographs, albums, quotes, articles, etc.

Sahl discusses the 2008 presidential campaign and other political headlines.

Interview from National Public Radio, 50 years after Sahl appeared at the Hungry I in San Francisco.

Sahl brought a one-man show to Broadway in 1987.

Time magazine reviews Sahl on Broadway: "In a Broadway theater grown intellectually a little stuffy, Sahl is a kind of nice fresh breath of carbon monoxide."

Sahl was the first political/stand-up comedian to appear on the cover of Time.

Web site with contributions from Bruce's daughter, Kitty.

A clip from Lenny Bruce's second-to-last performance, touching on his legal troubles and observations about religion and race.

The comic keeps it clean, yet still controversial, on national TV.

Hoffman was nominated for an Oscar for his performance, and the film was nominated for best picture.

Read here about the documentary featured on HBO in 1998. Includes interview with the director and articles about the film from the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and other publications.

Time tribute from 2006, 40 years after Bruce's death at age 40.

This entry includes links to Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision stemming from Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" routine. The ruling defined the power of the Federal Communications Commission over "indecent" material.

Radio interviews from 1990 and 2004 with National Public Radio's "Fresh Air."

Carlin's appearances, interviews and routines (including the 'dirty words') are all over YouTube.com. This one with a political/religious bent  is from the comic's last HBO special, March 2008.

His take: The planet is fine; it's people -- including environmentalists -- who are messed-up.

Carlin speaks up about what's wrong with Mickey Mouse, baby boomers, private property, and political activism in a Q&A from Mother Jones magazine

Carlin died on June 22, 2008. A blogger for The Nation.com remembers his impact.

This site does not appear to have been updated in some time but includes a professional and personal timeline; DVDs, books and other items for sale (including his first book, "Brain Droppings," and  his last HBO special, "It's Bad for Ya"); and images of documents such as the arrest report after Carlin's 1972 "Dirty Words" routine in Milwaukee.

The brothers' desire to provide a space on TV for the perspectives of a disaffected youth movement ran counter to CBS' tastes, and the network demanded to review episodes in advance. Among guests and performers who were censored are Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte and baby expert Dr. Spock.

With updates on what Tom and Dick are doing now, merchandise, and an episode archive.

Interview from May 2001.

"We wanted our show to be relevant," the performer says.

"I wonder sometimes what would have happened if we'd been allowed to go on," Tom says. "I'm sure it would've been fun, because what we were doing up until then was fun. Fun and very, very frustrating."

In the opening clip, the brothers poke fun at CBS' censorship. (Interestingly, cigarette commercials were not yet a problem for television.)

Among the clips are the brothers singing about the Vietnam War, and Walter Cronkite announcing on the evening news that the show had been canceled.

From October 2008.

Paulsen's satire skewers Social Security, gun control, health care. Today's audience might be reminded of the double-talk from Stephen Colbert's "The Word" segment on "The Colbert Report."

Includes link to an older site, created in 1997. The authors say Paulsen was the first presidential candidate to start an Internet site, in 1993. Paulsen's son Monty is reported to be keeping the Paulsen legacy alive with a 2012 presidential run.



Also on the site, Tommy Smothers pays tribute to the senior Paulsen, saying, "His '68 run was one of the best satirical things ever done in politics."



 

Humorous interview from 1993. Includes Paulsen's "Constitution"

1968 mockumentary of Paulsen's nomination for the presidency is strung around a series of soundbites taken from his editorial monologues on the Smothers Brothers show.

A well-thought blog entry by St. Petersburg Times TV/media critic Eric Deggans, looking back at "SNL" impressions of politicians starting with Chevy Chase as a bumbling, stumbling Gerald Ford.

Former "SNL" head writer Fey talks with Terry Gross of NPR's "Fresh Air" in November 2008.

Did Chase's impersonation cost Ford the presidency? "I think there was no question that it had major effect ," the comedian says.

Includes a list of his quotations and jokes.

Click on the video at the 40:11 mark for an interview with Russell from October 1994.

With audio and video links, Maher's New Rules, episode guide and merchandise links.

Interview from fall 2008, in which Maher discusses religion, Republicans he admires, a Democrat he despises, the death penalty and more.

From May 2007: The comedian discusses the Iraq War, George W. Bush, the 2008 campaign and more with Rose.

Includes video of full episodes and bios of the star and his correspondents and contributors.

Links to reviews of the 2004 bestseller by Stewart and "The Daily Show" staff. The book was No. 1 for 18 straight weeks on the New York Times' list. The recording of the book won the 2005 Grammy for best comedy album.



The New York Times' Tom Carson has this to say about the spoof of an American history textbook: "As with ''The Daily Show' itself, the book's artfulness is in maintaining a balance between pointed satire of the political travesties and media bamboozling [that] Americans should be fed-up with, and the sort of sublime silliness that implies equanimity."

In October 2004, Stewart appeared  on CNN's "Crossfire" and pleaded with hosts Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala to "stop hurting America." "He accused them of "partisan hackery" and said they "fail miserably" in their responsibility to the public discourse.  Stewart's appearance is later cited by CNN president Jon Klein when he announces the show's cancellation in January 2005.



 

Financial TV host Cramer offers a mea culpa on "The Daily Show."

Kurtzman writes: "Stewart employs a deft comic touch as he levels hilariously deflating broadsides at America's political landscape. Mixing piercing satire with spontaneous wit, Stewart essentially sits in the back of the country making wisecracks and throwing spitballs, as he once put it."

High praise comes from PBS' Bill Moyers in the first  of two interviews (from 2003 and 2007) available on this site:



"When future historians come to write the political story of our times, they will first have to review hundreds of hours of a cable television program called 'The Daily Show'. You simply can't understand American politics in the new millennium without 'The Daily Show.' "



 



Their dialogue begins:

[B]MOYERS:[/B] I do not know whether you are practicing a old form of parody and satire. Or a new form of journalism.

[B]STEWART:[/B] Well then that either speaks to the sad state of comedy or the sad state of news. I can't figure out which one. I think, honestly, we're practicing a new form of desperation. Where we just are so inundated with mixed messages from the media and from politicians that we're just trying to sort it out for ourselves.

Watch full episodes and join Colbert Nation here.

Colbert discusses his show and his book "I Am America (And So Can You!)" with Terry Gross on "Fresh Air" in 2007.

Colbert's 2007 book plays off his idea of "truthiness" -- "truth that comes from the gut, not books." As he explains in his introduction, this book is "not just some collection of reasoned arguments supported by facts. That's the coward's way out." Instead, it's a primer on what to believe about America.

A term coined by Colbert sums up the news year, according to dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster.

With the president sitting just a few feet away, Colbert's biting irony and satire surprised the press and George W. Bush at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

In shades of Pat Paulsen, Colbert announced on Oct. 16, 2007, that he was going to run for president on both the Republican and Democratic tickets, though only in his home state of South Carolina. The "campaign" was short-lived. Colbert elected not to pursue the Republican primary because of a $35,000 filing fee, and on Nov. 1, 2007, the Democrats voted to deny him a place on the ballot.

Colbert stays in character on the Fox News show hosted by the man he emulates and calls "Papa Bear," Bill O'Reilly.

Includes video links.

Black explains in this 2007 Q&A that he doesn't consider himself a political comic but a social satirist "because my setup is information."

With video, audio, tour dates, an Q&A and more.

Here's a slice of Black's political humor, from a Broadway appearance.