P.J. O'Rourke: The Funniest Man in America

www.intelligencesquared.com/ev... for full video.
P.J. O'Rourke is America's premier political satirist and has more citations in The Penguin Dictionary of Humorous Quotations than any other living writer. In this live appearance for Intelligence Squared he'll be discussing his new book, Don't Vote -- It Just Encourages the Bastards, a brilliant, hilarious and ultimately sobering look at why politics and politicians are a necessary evil-but only just barely necessary. Moving from Adam Smith to Milton Friedman to a late-night girls' boarding school game called Kill-F*@k-Marry, O'Rourke will explore the nature of the social contract. For him the essential elements are power, freedom and responsibility: the people like the freedom part, politicians like the power part, and hardly anyone wants to hear the responsibility part. This leads him to postulate the "Death, Sex and Boredom Theory of Politics."

[@rodneyclarke6477]

I miss PJ O'Rourke. I would read his books on the train commute to work & laugh out loud like a Crazy Person. One of the most gifted Political satirists to ever walk the face of Gods green earth RIP.

[@sonny8085]

"You better get down on your hands and knees and pray that life doesn't get fair for you!" 😁

[@tonyturley7306]

I cherish my copy of "Give War a Chance." P.J. was one of the best. And he was a Toledo boy, so we here will especially miss him.

[@stephenblessed92]

Back in the late seventies he wrote for National Lampoon. Would be the first thing I turned to when getting a copy.

[@hanktorrance6855]

Rest in peace PJ

[@gunnargundersen3787]

I was at that Intelligence Squared meeting. P J O'Rourke was a genius and sorely missed.

[@stevecurry7340]

‘Eat the Rich’ was one of the best books on economics for the common man ever written. Ranks right up there with ‘Freakonimics’ but funnier.

[@williamwinn1215]

I just learned today that PJ has passed. A real loss for our culture. My first exposure to his writing was an article in Car & Driver back in the '80s entitled "Getting Wrecked", I think. I remember laughing out loud while reading it. One of my favorite quotes of his was concerning racism and how we are all really the same race. He said something like "If we were dogs we would all be the same breed." RIP

[@evelynsaungikar3553]

I didn’t know! RIP.

[@dbmail545]

RIP, Patrick. Many hours enjoying your writing and not nearly enough time hearing you talk. Condolences to your family. I hope they feel as blessed as your fans do.

[@rorymurray256]

RIP PJ

[@earthlingjohn]

The philosopher we needed but never truly appreciated

[@seveglider8406]

Many people on the right and left truly appreciated P.J. O'Rourke.

[@mmchenry]

Satire by one of the finest political intellectuals ever . Not to mention that he was funnier than most comedians .

[@paulmcgrath552]

I still remember him from his days writing/editing for the National Lampoon. He took a pretty hard right turn politically sometime after that.

[@jimdavies6764]

He described himself as a "Libertarian." I wonder why you equate that with "hard right"? Libs are neither left nor right; instead we deplore the whole political machine and wish to reduce it, like Jefferson (the Dem Party founder) to the least possible size. I think that size is zero, PJ thought it was slightly more than zero.

[@andybaldman]

Zero government is conservatism to the extreme.

[@jimdavies6764]

@@andybaldman No. Conservatives claim to conserve what is good, but have never called for government to be abolished. That's their weakness; they fail to see the ultimate evil involved in stealing everyone's human right to rule him- or herself.

[@mperhaps]

@@jimdavies6764 Hang on Jimmy lets try and quash the rumor now that tea baggers misinterpret everything before it has a chance to fester into fact. The comment you took exception to was: PJ (A man who described himself as both a libertarian and a conservative) once worked for National Lampoon magazine. Regardless how that might offend your delicate sensibilities. It's still a right turn to get to where he was.

[@mmchenry]

R.I.P. P.J. !

[@embrj1453]

3:38, that should be said to all people, specially teens, that love to say that it's not fair.

[@timwatts9371]

It's a really fatuous comparison that he's making. It's clearly both stupid and contemptible to say that we shouldn't bother to do anything about the injustices that we CAN address just because there are injustices that we can't address. Fairness is just another word for justice and there is nothing infantile about justice as the basis for our societies. On the contrary, justice must be the basis of any decent society and those societies that have none are monstrous dystopias.

[@PakiNewsNetwork]

Out of this world!

[@BossDoubloon30]

I HATE politics. On both sides of the line. Period. But this guy is one of the funniest people ever! Ive been reading his book Give War A Chance, and it is great! Sometimes I have to look up some a what he's talkin about ( I wasn't even born during most a the incidents he talks about), but it is still an amazing book. I just love that he's basically fair with his jabs and criticisms. He makes fun of everybody equally.

[@petergambino2129]

poli = many. tics = blood sucking insects.

[@LMays-cu2hp]

Crazy cool.

[@hittitecharioteer]

Speaking of the millennial generations, PJO'R proved to be prescient - like he was on so many subjects on which he held forth.

[@tomthumb2057]

RIP you will and are missed...

[@manomishra]

Little kids being diagnosed with ADHD - yes you hit the problem of over diagnosis over medicated over cautious society on its head.

[@graham6132]

The title of this video needs an addendum: “ . . . said nobody ever.”

[@hipsabad]

indeed!

[@g4l430]

If you found none of this to be humorous then I suspect you are a modern day liberal which means progressive. A modern day liberal is someone who can't relate (through humor, etc) and wants to ban/squash independent thinking. That is exactly what makes humor effective... when it shines a lite on someone like you. Too bad you were born without a funny bone.

[@timwatts9371]

@@g4l430 The fact you regard the word "progressive" as an insult to be hurled in anger tells us just how dysfunctional the conservative mentality is. Your snivelling about a lack of humour in liberals looks pretty stupid given that nearly all comedians are liberals. Conservatives tend to be both too slow-witted and much too smug and self-regarding to be genuinely funny.

[@g4l430]

@@timwatts9371 Uhh, who hurled it in anger? It was just a distinction that the liberal of 10 years ago is not is now considered a moderate, libertarian or republican even though their views haven't changed. By the way, many comedians have stopped doing the college venues because their comedy is suppressed. Back to the subject... did you find any of O'Rourkes comments funny? You went to left field or maybe even the parking lot. Were you afraid to respond to the comment?

[@g4l430]

@@timwatts9371 Both you and I can go to a Dave Chappell show and laugh but did you laugh at any of O'Roukes' jokes? If not you are a progressive with an agenda and a lack of humor. I may be smug and self-regarding but you have an agenda which takes itself way too seriously. Roll it and smoke it, if it's bad toss it and come get the good *hit from us.

[@doughtymqan]

The world is not fair thank goodness

[@abcde_fz]

If you enjoyed this talk, find a copy of "Parliament of Whores", an O'Rourke title full of more such humorous wisdom, analysis, and commentary.

[@jeffersonianideal]

Notable, especially for being one of the few overtly anti-Statist videos in IQSquared's repertoire.

[@Tomm9y]

I love how he reels out a list of issue and includes T 0nnyy. 8.1iarr. He would do well with the corrupt incestuous, policing, legal, political, justice system (I know time, etc, will deal it's corrupt and corrupting influence).

[@jonpark6650]

The Tea Party was a group of American citizens usually taxpaying citizens that could not figure out why their elected representatives had no desire to find out the wants and needs of the electorate that voted them into office.

[@JohnWilliams-channel]

Milton Friedman argues we're all psychopaths just like him.

[@Tuppington]

PJ Rourke is God laughing at himself more constantly than you can ever hope to.

[@theseanze]

This talk reminded me of Prof. Harold Hill's song "Trouble" in the Music Man, where he weaves this colorful thread from something as commonplace as a pool hall to the townspeople's worst fears for their children. We gotta mark the difference between a gentleman and a bum, "with a capital B, that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool!" It's cute for an old man to say the problem is just the darn kids, but entirely ignorant of any of the content of '60s activism and ensuing social research.

[@adamsaunders3413]

Milton Friedmans policy recommendations destroyed the middle classes In America and led to the decline of manufacturing in Britain. Reagan and Thatcher were big fans.

[@lauragroce3816]

RIP

[@juliejensen7370]

Why do people keep saying there are only two sides in politics? There are different views on every subject. Relatively few are far right or far left. The media makes ratings by having people fight. Bring back newspapers! Not voting is the worst option.

[@timwatts9371]

I used to find O'Rourke very funny when he wrote for National Lampoon and I liked Holidays In Hell. He became less amusing as he got older but then most people probably do.

[@machobunny1]

Poorly named in all respects. My IQ is over 140 and I didn't laugh once, and my intelligence certainly didn't increase exponentially. In fact, I think I'm stupider.

[@charlesconlon5865]

Shows exactly what went wrong with the US economy from 1932 to 1972 ...

[@christophergould8715]

No he is not

[@anthonymccarthy4164]

No, he wasn't. He was a presenter of the conservative and conventional.

[@7425park]

Yeah, he is funny like Andy Rooney is wise, like not. Oh that Yugo quip was a real gut buster.

[@hikerJohn]

Click Bait Title.

[@vladimirputin4822]

Del Boy did the speech better way back in series two episode five of only fools and horses, then it was British Rail's paint being stolen by Trigger. This guy was obviously a fan, look at the ill fitting suit perfect for Rodney and I bet he's got a brown coat with a lump in the back(it's genuine Camel hair) but he should have mentioned the original.

[@michaelnantell]

As Homer Simpson said stupid TV be more funny

[@johnortmann3098]

To be fair, I'm sure O'Rourke has never claimed to be "the funniest man in America." The uploader did for clickbait purposes. I remember reading in one of O'Rourke's works that he (resented?) Dave Barry, because Barry is so much funnier than he, O'Rourke, is. Also, bear in mind this is not the full video. This is a chopped up, badly edited version.

[@aquamarine99911]

Yeah, PJ was funny and daring in the 70s with National Lampoon, but his "dope-smoking conservative" schtick from the 80s' on wasn't particularly hilarious.

[@bill2953]

PJ was one of our literary heroes in the 1980s when he was writing for Rolling Stone. We looked forward to the next issue like kids waiting for Santa.. Then he came out against tthe MAGA movement in 2017 and displayed a vitriol that seemed completely out of character but it was clear he had deep seated issues with the so-called attack on liberalism. RIP dude, you managed to leave a lot of us with a sour taste for your memory.

[@SMenkveld]

P. J. O'Rourke didn't "cone out against the Maga movement." He simply did what he had always done: called out an obnoxious, irritating, egotistical BS artist on his BS. And as always, it's not the con man who is most offended when that one guy in the audience calls BS... it's the marks.

[@bill2953]

@@SMenkveld In other words promoted even more division at a time when we were already staring into the chazm. And then secretly relished his tax break and $2.50 a gallon gasoline. Have you never heard of the DC swamp? Welp they hated Trump cuz they couldn't buy him so they lied their asses off about him from day one. And look, here you are, another one of their little democrats lapping up their crap like a starving rodent. Happy trails punkin. Ignorance is bliss ---- til you have to pay 5 bucks a gallon.

[@timwatts9371]

@@bill2953 " they hated Trump cuz they couldn't buy him" That's adorably naive. The Orange Turd has been for sale his entire life.

[@Dr.TJ1]

I don’t agree that governments operate by spending someone else’s money on other people. Governments operate by spending MY money on other people and while like most people I try to minimize how much of my money I give to the government, I learned a long time ago to be happy with the government spending my money on other people. Taxes are one of the two certainties and paying taxes is much better than the other certainty, so there’s no reason to get all riled up about paying taxes.

[@hipsabad]

well said! it's a sign of adolescent resentment to be in denial about the collective action of contributing to the common pot. Like condo owners who think they shouldn't have to pay strata fees

[@michaelbermingham8366]

00

[@donwright3429]

Hard to believe that he is gone...**sigh**... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._O%27Rourke

[@dangremillion]

All the horseshit we are experiencing from our government has drifted over the atlantic ocean from France. We soon will all be speaking French and eating croissants and snails on a daily basis. Not bad.

[@johns.7297]

The old ideologies of the industrial era are long past their sell by date. e.g., communism, socialism, conservatism, liberalism, libertarianism. This guy is funny! Got a problem? You will find the source of the problem in a mirror.

[@nayanmalig]

Eleven years later Stalin seems a social worker compared to the democracy and human rights brigade.

[@timwatts9371]

That's one of the stupidest comments I've ever seen. Get an education and learn some history.

[@gibbogle]

Wow, that's pretty stupid!

[@thelodgeatbigfalls1451]

Remarkable lack of laughter for the funniest man in America

[@lindam.9282]

Some things were funny but not the funniest I've ever heard in America.

[@samsonwilkinson8090]

His written stuff was funny. No longer, since decades.

[@death2pc]

He became a sad caricature of himself.......... Nevertheless, in spite of his unconscionably egregious stumble a few years back, I am truly sorry for his passing.............

[@timwatts9371]

@@death2pc Nicely put. My feelings exactly.

[@zzzzxxx1]

The start of this sets up the rest of the disappointment that continues from listening to the rest. Citing a conservative economist, he details in the most broad and general way how individuals spending their own money is best. How about a comparison of the inefficiencies of giving money to health insurance companies, who seek to maximize profit, with healthcare spending done by government directly to healthcare providers. There are REAL numbers there, and you could make ACTUAL comparisons, rather than doctrinal screeds. Similarly, 'this generation avoids personal responsibility' is a supposed fact void of all data or comparison..and on and on. It's disappointing to see a person of above-average smarts speak so stupidly.

[@rickrose5377]

It's hard not to like P.J. O'Rourke. One senses he's a decent guy -- witty, articulate, and wrong about nearly everything.

[@desertodavid]

@@rickrose5377 yeah I'm really disappointed with this video because I believed that I was going to see the funniest man in America from 11 years ago. Through the Strategic use of smoke and mirrors He actually set the stage for the woke nonsense we're seeing today!

[@rickrose5377]

@@desertodavid You replied in two sentences, the first of which is straightforward and clear: you, too, are disappointed, but because O'Rourke used to be hilarious and as time wore on became less so. Your eccentric capitalization is vexing, but I'll try to overlook it (though it demonstrates a certain carelessness). Your second sentence, however, is indecipherable: I have no idea what the hell you're trying to say, and I feel pretty confident the confusion is less mine than yours. What are the 'smoke and mirrors' O'Rourke employed, and how did he 'set the stage' for the current woke-ness you deplore? He stayed pretty true to his entertaining but misguided conservative principles, it seems to me, whose logic was flawed in exactly the sorts of ways pointed out by zzzzxxx1 (above) -- e.g., failing to point out that our overpriced healthcare system, electoral politics, corporate law code, system of inherited wealth, prohibitively expensive educational system, and speculative capitalism are all bloated with expensive inefficiencies because of people (insurance companies, day traders, etc.) trying to game the system or extract profit without adding anything of value.

[@desertodavid]

@@rickrose5377 You could have saved us both a lot needless wasted energy by simply asking why I capitalized two words that didn't need be. I use my microphone instead of the tedious effort of texting on my phone. Words don't always get translated correctly. I don't know why some words get capitalized. I normally proofread and edit before I hit send. But in cases where the recipient is of non consequential nature I don't bother. So at any rate we now know that you can write-- but you're just lazy. Fair?

[@rickrose5377]

@@desertodavid No, unfair -- and more importantly, wrong. You're the lazy one. I actually write. And again more importantly -- READ. You address my niggling, self-admittedly minor point, but ignore the longer, more substantial part of my reply. I understand how convenient that is for you -- you don't like to have your ignorant pieties challenged. But THAT'S lazy. You don't answer or even address any of my questions. (By the way, O'Rourke's eulogist, Chris Buckley, lived in the room directly above me in college. I remember the little party he threw when he failed his draft physical.)

[@jamesgalloway8835]

He’s not Kevin Hart …

[@fredphilippi8388]

In my few encounters with PJ O'Rourke, I never found him funny.

[@RFranklinCarter]

P.J. O'Rourke is not the funniest man in America, but he is right.

[@pillettadoinswartsh4974]

yawn............................

[@floxy20]

I enjoyed a few of his books but when he endorsed Hillary I was able to clear some of my library shelf space. Inexcusable.

[@erincaitlin1655]

Duh !! Woman !!

[@samiam619]

Did you refill it with coloring books by tRumpelthinskin?

[@warren52nz]

I think Trump trumped him for being the funniest man in America at least in the *_cringe humor"_* department.

[@rickrose5377]

Excuse me?!? Trump funny -- in what way? O'Rourke, at least, is articulate, witty, and erudite. Trump is an illiterate buffoon. O'Rourke, wrong as he is, is never cruel and never hurt anybody. Trump is an entitled bully and a cancer, without a shred of decency or self-discipline, grandiose and stupid.

[@GilmerJohn]

@@rickrose5377 -- Well, it seems we have a backward look into why PJ hated Trump so much. Not only was Trump truly funny, he could influence and entertain a crown of 30k folks; could PJ have even done that?

[@nevermindshort3]

It should be called intelligence squarerooted. Becaus this reduces your intelligence.

[@Shad3251]

@Silberdachs Yeah he did, big time. PJ is another hack.

[@JH-zv4vc]

So wrong on trump. Old establishment that new populist conservatives find boring old and tired, correctly so

[@BigfootAnthropologist]

P.J. O'Rourke used to be funny. Not now.

[@pepsipeepl]

So PJ O'Rourke's daughter relies too much on technology for her happiness? And she should rely on God and prayer in hopes that things are never fair. She should remember that when Daddy is old and gasping for oxygen. With the gadgets and gizmos and oxygen she could take that away and teach him that he has too much of a whining wheezy dependence on technology.

[@freedom3594]

r/wooosh

[@deanronson6331]

The funniest my ass. He is proof that among right-wingers, a sense of humor is an exception and a rarity even in tiny doses. 95% of all comedians, comedy writers, satirists, and humorists across the world have traditionally been liberals because the chief subject of comedy is ridiculing the rich, the powerful, and the right-wing-stupid.

[@garycallaghan5416]

Exactly, I would add that the lack of sense of humour has to do with their inability to self reflect and see irony in their ways. Almost narcissistic in a way…wait a minute, that was the three chief subjects you mentioned.

[@deanronson6331]

@@garycallaghan5416 Let me add another reason. Right-wingers tend to be conformists, and conformism is an enemy of a comedic frame of mind.

[@desertodavid]

@@deanronson6331 I watch left-wing Comedians and laugh my ass off. Watch "The Truth About Comedy" on KZbin kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3OblZ9-nMymrZY

[@cerny4444]

I’m assuming you have cancer as your anger and darkness reflects a deep sense of anger. Good luck!!

[@deanronson6331]

@@cerny4444 You're obviously projecting, as all right-wingers do, since my comment was an affirmation of 95% of humorists and satirists and a put-down of evil reactionaries like yourself.

[@richardlambert4577]

Why is the "Funniest Man in America" so tediously predictable?

[@freedom3594]

Because he contributed significantly to the prevailing national consciousness that helped to shape your worldview, so of course it’s predictable. The “tedious” part is your choice.

[@richardlambert4577]

@@freedom3594 "Tedious" was an observation not a choice. I read this because I had not seen or heard much about P.J. since National Lampoon days.

[@OldNew45]

The fact that he just about reads it, word for word, makes him one of the least funny people in America.

[@paulmcgrory5165]

About as funny as a kick in the balls.

[@eamonnmorris5331]

As a speechmaker he's not that smooth! As a 'satirist', he's NOT that funny! The audience here seems to understand that ...

[@timwatts9371]

I thought it was a bad sign when he laughed at his own joke right at the beginning of the speech.

[@judeirwin2222]

Well, he’s not very funny now.

[@jackselvia2709]

Another failed poet in my life.

[@gibbogle]

The only funny right-winger.

[@scottallen7119]

P.J. is just not funny. His jokes totally fail about 80 percent of the time. Be seems a bit slow.

[@judithherschman2122]

Scott Allen 1

[@rapier1954]

Then why did you bother to listen or do you have nothing better to do

[@jeffswail9458]

Or to put it another way- I don't get it so it's not funny.

[@elvinjonas5451]

Not funny. The jokes are lame.

[@davidfragale5156]

Boring. Boring. Boring….

[@lanceash]

He was funny----in the seventies, writing for National Lampoon. After he decided to embrace the GOP and conservative politics, he himself became the joke. Can't/couldn't stand him. Paid good money to hear him speak once; all he did was read excerpts from his books.

[@lanceash]

@Michael Cohen When the Wall Street protests were going on, which were fueled by legitimate outrage at the continued corruption of Big Money and the government's bailout of Big Corporations while screwing the little guy, O'Rourke went on some news debate show and said, go out there and pass out joints to those people and they'll go away. That's how out of touch he was after he returned to his Irish Catholic roots and started living for money and expensive whiskey (oh, and cigarettes, too. That's what killed him.)

[@death2pc]

You still have Rosie O'Donnell, Kathy Griffin and Joy Behar to turn to............

[@jamesey]

KZbin recommended this to me. It's comedy for people who think bottom of the barrel humor is funny. So predictable and unoriginal.

[@simonsmith7319]

RIP