The Jokes of Politics, D to R
Will Rogers, the Paint Clan Cherokee cowboy turned entertainer turned political pundit, used to say he did not make jokes. “I just watch the government and report the facts.” Like any intelligent man, he could be viewed as a bundle of contradictions, but most of his contradictions came from wearing his heart on his sleeve.
From at least 1916, when he faced the reputedly dour and humorless President Woodrow Wilson, nobody was safe from his barbs. Before that performance, his political comments had been topical humor pulled out of the latest newspapers. Having the president in the audience, for Will, took topical comedy to another level bordering on what he never intended, personal attack.
Characteristically, he started with the truth: “I am kinder nervous here tonight.”
Writing years later, he admitted, “that is not an especially bright remark, …but it was so apparent to the audience that I was speaking the truth that they laughed heartily at it.”
Encouraged, Rogers let fly with his usual routine, and the president wound up laughing at himself. According to Rogers biographer Ben Yagoda, Will was invited into the Presidential Box after the show. Still a bit nervous, he parked his omnipresent wad of chewing gum in his hat, forgot he had done so, and suffered the consequences when he put the hat back on later. (His…
