10 Responses

1. 

   1)

   Chris Hooten said on 1/18/2007 @ 10:31pm PT: [Permalink]

   Uhmmm. I’m really embarrassed, but… Who?

2. 

   2)

   Cyteria said on 1/18/2007 @ 11:03pm PT: [Permalink]

   I loved that guy. Welcome to heaven. They need a few laughs out there.

3. 

   3)

   Arry said on 1/18/2007 @ 11:21pm PT: [Permalink]

   One funny guy, Chris. He skewered Nixon and Reagan (and a lot of other people). It seems like a very long time since I used to read his column regularly.

   He was always close to the beltway but far enough out of it to make real comedy out of its stupidities.

4. 

   4)

   Arry said on 1/18/2007 @ 11:31pm PT: [Permalink]

   Kind of an absurdity detector.

5. 

   5)

   Dredd said on 1/19/2007 @ 6:31am PT: [Permalink]

   In an interview that was to be released only upon his death, he was asked what he would miss.

   He said “I will miss global warming, my condolences to those of you who won’t miss it” (paraphrased).

6. 

   6)

   gtash said on 1/19/2007 @ 7:37am PT: [Permalink]

   My mother (who died a long time ago) was a fan of Art. The humor was of another generation. It wasn’t what you call “edgy”, and it wasn’t “about nothing” either.

   The photo being used looks like it came from a Friars Roast in the 1960’s, which is the way I remember him. And my mother laughing.

   I will be the first to admit I did not find his wit all that appealing. He was a like Andy Rooney without the scowl, and he tended to look on the absurdity of affairs with a lightness rather than a hurt-cynicism.

   If you heard him talk to NPR’s Dianne Reem a few months ago (where he was in a hospice expecting to die) you would have heard a guy who was very upbeat and uncynical and funny. And he was ready to move on.

   Of course, he later left the hospice because he did not die on schedule and got tired of holding up everybody’s expectations. The joke was on the doctors—for a while anyway.

7. 

   7)

   Dredd said on 1/19/2007 @ 1:34pm PT: [Permalink]

   Gtash #6

   That reminds me of the movie where the Indian Chief went up the mountain to die, laid down on the buffalo skin covered death platform, and then it begain to sprinkle.

   When he did not die in a short time, he departed back to the village. They inquired of him and he said “It is not a good day to die”.

8. 

   8)

   gtash said on 1/19/2007 @ 4:09pm PT: [Permalink]

   Little Big Man.

   Sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t.

9. 

   9)

   Arry said on 1/19/2007 @ 8:10pm PT: [Permalink]

   I always liked the titles of his books:

   Paris After Dark (1950)
   Son of the Great Society (1961)
   Washington Is Leaking (1976)
   While Reagan Slept (1983)
   Leaving Home (Putnam, 1994)
   I’ll Always Have Paris (Putnam, 1995)
   I Think I Don’t Remember (Putnam, 1987)
   Stella in Heaven: Almost a Novel (Putnam, 2000)
   Beating Around the Bush (Seven Stories, 2005)
   Too Soon to Say Goodbye (2006)

   Looking at the dates, you can pretty much tell what the main themes are. I always thought some of his pieces were, eh,…OK, some were pretty good, some were terrific. When he was on, he was very, very funny.

   Heck, anyone who deflates Washington self-importance and consistently displays the absurdity of pomposity is OK in my book.

10. 

    10)

    Larry Bergan said on 1/20/2007 @ 3:06am PT: [Permalink]

    Dredd #7

    That was a truly funny scene!

    I have to admire anyone who prefers to die sooner rather then being hooked up to a machine. Americans have to stop worrying about death so much.