Read O'Rourke and Molly Ivins together and you get a weird sense of how different and how similar in some ways our political culture of the moment is. Like, the same oppositional tropes, and some of the same 'fuck you' undertone, but absolutely none of the good humor.
I think this gets at some of it, but I think these days there's less willingness to believe that good humor regarding one's opposition is appropriate, or even possible. But that's part of what makes me kind of want to read one of his recent books, because he was obviously still working, but managed never to become the Main Character on Twitter in the way that political comedians like Bill Maher do with some regularity. So, did he blunt the edge, was he more careful in choosing targets, or was he just sort of grandfathered in as a luminary of a previous generation?
Read O'Rourke and Molly Ivins together and you get a weird sense of how different and how similar in some ways our political culture of the moment is. Like, the same oppositional tropes, and some of the same 'fuck you' undertone, but absolutely none of the good humor.
I think this gets at some of it, but I think these days there's less willingness to believe that good humor regarding one's opposition is appropriate, or even possible. But that's part of what makes me kind of want to read one of his recent books, because he was obviously still working, but managed never to become the Main Character on Twitter in the way that political comedians like Bill Maher do with some regularity. So, did he blunt the edge, was he more careful in choosing targets, or was he just sort of grandfathered in as a luminary of a previous generation?
Thanks I somehow missed his passing. I used to read his stuff in Nat Lampoon magazine. RIP.
My mentor edited a book of nonfiction from writers from Ohio, featuring PJ O’Rourke. Called “Good Roots”