Will Durst
Will Durst has an identity crisis, and the media is no help at all. The LA Times calls him,“A modern day Will Rogers.” The San Francisco Examiner argues he’s “the heir apparent to Mort Sahl and Dick Gregory.” The Chicago Tribune hails Durst as an “hysterical hybrid of Hunter S. Thompson and Charle Osgood.” He is America’s premier political comic, but you could more precisely refer to him as a renegade social commentator, or crusty but benign populist windmill tilter, or how about just a bi-partisan smartass.
Durst finds his material in the eight newspapers he reads every day. “You can’t make stuff up like this.” He’s outraged and outrageous. As topical as the day’s headlines; from the President to the Pope to the Post Office, no one escapes his scathing hits. “Politicians are people who lie to the press and then believe what they read.” “Clinton is such a chameleon, you could kill him by locking him in a plaid room.” “Newt Gingrich says he wants to work with Bill; yeah, the same way a five year old with a magnifying glass wants to work with ants. He’s not a politician, he’s Pete Rose with rabies.”
William Tell Bruce John Henry Durst Jr. grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but moved to San Francisco because “comedy is illegal in Milwaukee.” This self-described “blue collar comic” held over 100 jobs before finally earning a living making people laugh out loud on purpose against their will. He ran for mayor of San Francisco, came in 4th out of 11, spent $1,200 and got 2% of the vote: so on a dollar per vote basis, he IS mayor of San Francisco.
The only comic ever invited to perform at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Durst writes a daily column on the Internet, his radio commentaries can be heard on PRI’s “Marketplace” and he pens monthly columns for “George”, “The Progressive” and “Funny Times” magazines, along with occasional editorials for various newspapers including the New York Times. Host of 2 PBS series premiering Fall of 1997: “The Durst Amendment” & “livelyhood”; the Dark Prince of Public Broadcasting is a veteran of every comedy show featuring a brick wall, including HBO, Showtime and Letterman, and was nominated for a Cable Ace Award for his A&E’s “A Year’s worth with Will Durst”. The Susan Lucci of stand up, Durst has been nominated 7 times for the American Comedy Awards Male Stand Up of the Year, but has yet to win. Hobbies include the never-ending search for the perfect cheeseburger, and his heroes are the same as when he was twelve: Thomas Jefferson and Bugs Bunny.
Will Durst’s Performances are made possible by the First Amendment
All articles by Will Durst
-
liberal
POST PENNSYLVANIA PRIMARY PUNDITRY
Order another bag of peanuts, pass the cotton candy and get used to the smell of sawdust, because the circus tour has been extended. Yes, my friends, welcome to the primary that will not die.
April 27, 2008 -
liberal
POLITICS AREN’T US
Oh sure, I’ve made a halfway decent living mocking and scoffing and taunting our various elected officials, but what most of us fail to appreciate are the necessary complement of specialized growths our beleaguered civil servants are forced to sprout.
March 29, 2008 -
liberal
HINTS ON HOW TO COVER THE HISTORIC 08 CANDIDACIES
Since all three candidates have proven to be a bit, shall we say, delicate, a hastily compiled handy reference guide about how to cover the most exciting political sensations of this or indeed, many a generation, is in order.
March 19, 2008 -
liberal
50 suggestions for John McCain's VP Shortlist
#1 WARREN BUFFET. World’s richest man can’t hurt, in case the campaign needs a loan. Or the country.
March 16, 2008 -
liberal
HILLARY CLINTON: UNDEAD
Brazenly defying logic, momentum, expectations, poll numbers, gravity, and the old wives’ advice not to venture into the water within an hour of eating, Hillary Clinton unaccountably still lives.
March 09, 2008 -
liberal
Please, Shut up.
Shut up. Please shut up. No. Really. Shut up. Yes, I’m talking about the two remaining Democratic candidates, who just participated in their 20th debate but it seems more like their 8,000th. It was like listening to golf on the radio in Mandarin.
March 03, 2008 -
liberal
LUMPY & HUCKY
The GOP is down to a man who believes humans and dinosaurs walked the earth together and another who can refute that since he was there.
February 28, 2008 -
liberal
Not-So Super Tuesday
Disappointment, thy name is Super Tuesday. Maybe the celebrated Day was intimidated trying to live up to its own hype, like the New England Patriots who were perfect for an entire season minus the last 35 seconds.
February 08, 2008 -
liberal
Super Fat Tuesday
This Super Tuesday also holds the distinction of being the most Super of any Tuesday we’ve ever known. You could say it’s the Superest Tuesday, because of everybody vying to be relevant in the partisan picking processes. Our choice for the next resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave has pretty much boiled down to the Woman, the Black Guy, the Mormon and the Prisoner of War.
February 04, 2008 -
liberal
Democratic Slap Fight
Yes, I’m talking about the most recent televised debate, or more accurately, candidate slap fight, that preceded this weekend’s South Carolina Primary. First Hillary Clinton accused Barack Obama of saying nice things about Ronald Reagan, which is the most heinous sin a Democrat could commit outside of peeing on George Bush if he were on fire.
January 29, 2008 -
liberal
Balkanizing Ronald Reagan
One has to consider Ronald Reagan lucky he’s in the ground and doesn’t have to watch these poseurs go through their paces or he’d be spinning in his grave like a rotisserie chicken during a power surge. Not to mention being royally pissed off about being buried alive and all.
January 18, 2008 -
liberal
Hillary Clinton: Shadows Trump Hope
What follows is the real and true story of how Hillary Clinton overcame a double digit same day deficit and won the New Hampshire Primary. We all know what happened, but like the knickers of a Guatemalan nanny bent over a laundry basket in the room just off the kitchen, we pretend not to notice.
January 10, 2008 -
liberal
IOWA- its winner- tastic!
Obviously, Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee are winners because… well, they won. Ron Paul is a big winner coming in a strong fifth, if there is such a thing, when most experts didn’t even expect him to be able to find Iowa on a map.
January 08, 2008 -
liberal
TOP TEN COMEDIC POLITICAL NEWS STORIES OF 2007
The Top Ten Comedic News Stories of the Year are as different from the Top Ten Legitimate News Stories of the Year as Peppermint Mini Marshmallow Froot Loops are from porridge. Jimmy Carter called President Bush the “worst President ever.” And by the very nature of that statement, that would have to include… Jimmy Carter.
December 25, 2007 -
liberal
The Not So Almighty Dollar
Talk about how the almighty have fallen. The dollar is headed downhill faster than Bode Miller on a set of rocket skis. Think nose dive. Plummetville. Plunge City. Belly Floppo Rama. Recession is such an ugly word. Try walking down a New York City street these days without getting knocked off the sidewalk by a gaggle of foreigners brandishing a circumference of high end shopping bags like a cardboard armada. Can’t be done.
December 02, 2007 -
independent
Membership to the Nuclear Club
This might be a good time to try and explain George Bush’s Mideast nuclear policy, which to the untrained eye must seem trickier than doing calculus on a solar powered calculator in the front seat of a high speed roller coaster while wearing gloves at night.
November 18, 2007 -
liberal
Al Gore & The Blue Sky Theory
So Al Gore got the Nobel Peace Prize for his incessant blabbing about “global warming.” Big deal. Now the Global Gloomy Gus is going around trying to convince people the sky is blue. He doesn’t call it an opinion. He neglects to cite scientific evidence linking other colors to the sky.
October 21, 2007 -
liberal
Christianity: GOD’S ONLY PARTY
Last week, a clandestine cadre of controlling conservative Christian captains, (bunch of right wing religious nut jobs is what I’m getting at,) threatened to run from the GOP like ducks from an alligator the size of a Buick if any infidel they don’t anoint is nominated for president. And yes, specific former New York City Mayors were mentioned. Funny you should ask.
October 07, 2007 -
liberal
Free speech ain't free. Oh wait a minute. Yeah, it is.
There’s no whining about who gets to speak at what college. Doesn’t matter out of which holes the free speech is coming from. Whether it’s the biggest little two bit dictator in the world or the personification of Lucifer himself replete with red horns and forked tail and cloven hooves. But let’s leave the Vice President out of this one.
September 28, 2007 -
liberal
REPUBLICANS GONE WILD 2
If you’re one of the millions still rolling on the floor in amazement at the greed and hypocrisy featured in last year’s surprise hit: “REPUBLICANS GONE WILD,” throw that DVD away because you’re not going to believe the extreme and hilarious action we’ve compiled for you in the brand new “REPUBLICANS GONE WILD 2.”
September 08, 2007 -
liberal
Saying Bye Bye to Rove
Karl Rove, Bush’s brain, quit last week. And no, he hasn’t been replaced, so yes, you could say the cavity remains empty. To put it another way: Voldermort has left the building. Darth Vader took off his helmet.
August 24, 2007 -
liberal
Scooter Skates
July 16, 2007 -
liberal
Boss-Man Dick
July 07, 2007 -
liberal
DARTING SQUIRTERS
June 21, 2007 -
liberal
PARIS HILTON PAYS FOR GEORGE BUSH’S SINS
June 12, 2007 -
libertarian
NOT YOUR SPECIES MONKEY BOY
June 02, 2007 -
liberal
Hill Songs
June 01, 2007 -
liberal
You Got to Love Dick
May 22, 2007
