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Maybe history does repeat itself; the scuttlebutt is we have a “Will Rogers” Jr. in our midst, Jon Stewart. It could be gossip, who am I to say, but I do know that Jon, much like Will has a way of getting our attention. You may not like what he says all of the time, but one must admit he surely gets our attention usually followed by a reaction.
But Jon doesn’t stand alone – there’s David Letterman, Jay Leno and a multitude of cartoonists and other humorists who followed in the footsteps of Will Rogers and Mark Twain.
It all started back in the early 1800’s when two men, who lived miles apart, gave birth to political humor. Neither man was too impressed with Congress, so they took their show on the road and shared the antics of Congress laced with a lot of humor to the public.
They were crowd pleasers and neither one was ever at a lost for words. Mark Twain became world renown after writing Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. Will Rogers was of Cherokee decent, a real live cowboy who was good with a rope, loved horses and was born with a quick wit that was right on the tip of his tongue.
America loved Mark and Will and would travel many miles just to hear them talk. Will made fun of presidential campaigns, the name calling and conceit of the candidates. He felt America had pretty much gotten to this ripe young age on its own and the candidates might as well go fishing for a week or so until the election was over. In other words, America is fine and can handle this without you.
The men and women in charge of our political humor do a bang up job. They follow the presidential elections ruthlessly and decipher what the truth may be behind the words. It takes tenacity, total unadulterated arrogance and a right smart cookie to be a political humorist.
Start following these political humorists now and you’ll pretty much know who is the “Real McCoy” is and know each of the presidential candidates like a book. They study the debates, listen to each candidates as she or he talks, promises and changes their minds – they’ll stick with these men and women like a fly on flypaper until the 2008 election is over.