# Political humorist Mark Russell dies at age 90 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death, comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [April 4, 2023, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123 "2023-04-04T04:18:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/1 "2023-04-04T04:18:18Z")
I loved his PBS specials back in the day, especially because he lampooned and skewered everybody equally. RIP. As many of you know, I have an Amazon store, and someone bought one of his books from me earlier today. Not until a few minutes ago did I find out that he had died over the weekend. > **[Mark Russell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Russell)** > > Joseph Marcus Ruslander (August 23, 1932 – March 30, 2023), better known as Mark Russell, was an American political satirist and comedian. He is best known for his series of bimonthly comedy specials on PBS television between 1975 and 2004. His routines were a mix of political stand-up humor covering current events and musical parodies in which he accompanied himself on his trademark American flag-themed piano. > Mark Russell was born Joseph Marcus Ruslander and grew up in Buffalo, New York, the s... ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/2 "2023-04-04T06:04:43Z")
I saw him perform live in 1987! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/3 "2023-04-04T13:07:13Z")
Greatly enjoyed his work — and did see him live in 2003. He acknowleged the presence of a group from PR in the audience: “I’m sure you’ll get statehood… after we get done with New Jersey” ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/4 "2023-04-04T17:17:54Z")
I remember enjoying his specials as a teen. But it feels like he just faded as the world got crazier and began lampooning itself better than he ever could. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/5 "2023-04-04T18:04:36Z")
The first time I heard one of his routines, I mistook him for Tom Lehrer. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/6 "2023-04-04T21:04:13Z")
Russell was one of the best old school political satirists, in the company of Russell Baker and Art Buchwald. They had the misfortune of rising to their peaks in an era when the National Lampoon and other outlets took off the velvet gloves and both-side-are-funny mentality and went for blood. Russell continued on pleasantly for decades but his best stuff was long in the past. I think he only wrote one book, _Presenting Mark Russell_, a collection of humor pieces. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/7 "2023-04-04T21:27:40Z")
I can’t think of him without remembering the Simpsons episode where they went to D.C.: > -He already sang this stupid song! > > -No, that was about the budget gap. This is the trading gap. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/8 "2023-04-04T21:30:51Z")
Somewhere in heaven, Mort Sahl and Mark Russell are putting on a great evening of comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/9 "2023-04-04T22:01:16Z")
The only time I deliberately cut a class was in college, to see Mark Russell perform. It wasn’t from that show, but my favorite line of his was about how the government was combining free cheese and the space program by inventing “the first orbital fondue”. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/10 "2023-04-05T00:00:22Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > I saw him perform live in 1987! I saw him about that same era; a community college in the Seattle suburbs. The line of his that I remember (I think) was about a political candidate making a visit to a factory that made American flags. “He was there for a fitting.” ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/11 "2023-04-05T01:05:42Z")
That’s another chunk of my young adulthood gone. ☹ He was my introduction to political satire. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-humorist-mark-russell-dies-at-age-90/982123/12 "2023-04-05T17:00:48Z")
Same here. He once said something about Will Rogers, so I checked out a few of his books from the high school library (hint: they didn’t age well, like most political humor).