Political humor isn’t the new kid in town – it started way back in the early 1800’s and has moved into our country one comedian at a time. Yep, a cowboy of Cherokee decent hanging out in Oklahoma started with his own radio program followed by an editorial section in the paper spinning his puns, one audience at a time. Everyone love Will Rogers and would travel from miles around to hear him speak.

At the same time, a fellow humorist, Mark Twain from Missouri wasn’t letting any dust collect under his feet. When he wasn’t writing, he’d hook the old horse and wagon up and go speak to huge audiences that just couldn’t get enough of his humor. Actually, many have called him a renowned lecturer who held the attention of the audience from start to finish.

What did these two have in common? They were both born with an awesome sense of humor and neither one like Congress very much. Through their humor, they pointed out the gory things that American needed to be apprised of and gave the politicians a run for their money.

Most of us remember Mark Twain for the two books, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and eventually these books brought worldwide fame to Mark. Although he spoke to big audiences, he used to tell his friends and wife that he was scared to death standing in front of an audience speaking. Mark felt he had a job to do for America and that was to keep the government on their toes and to inform the citizens when things were amiss in the government.

Two things come to mind about Will Rogers, one he had to make a public apology because he impersonated Calvin Coolidge saying, “The nation is prosperous on the whole, but how much prosperity is in a hole?” The other piece of political humor was the time he said, “The Indian, he’s a ward of the government, but then we all are now – everybody is an Indian.”

Will Rogers and Mark Twain were probably the two greatest “Political Humorist” of their time and possibly our time two. They served as political watchdogs for the people and didn’t try to be politically correct.