Sunday, July 28, 1996
Political satirist spares no one from his truthful tirade
By Alicia Cheak
Summer Bruin Contributor
On stage, political satirist Mort Sahl lampoons just about everything. Nothing escapes his caustic tongue. With the presidential elections around the corner and political consciousness higher than usual, his new one-man show, "America," is timed perfectly.
Sahl's satires criticize American politics, highlighting its absurdity and its defects.
"God bless Bill Clinton and Bob Dole ... long may they waiver," he says, sparing neither Republicans nor Democrats. In fact, these days he attacks the liberals with just as much, if not greater vehemence.
His anecdotes about campaign parties thrown by democratic celebrities and the schemes employed to secure those venerated blank checks are hilarious.
Sahl recalls how, at a party given by Barbara Streisand, the rumor that he liked John F. Kennedy resulted in an evening of various individuals trying to tempt his checkbook by comparing Clinton and Dukakis to Kennedy.
"The century tried to turn, but it couldn't get through Congress" is another taunt at the system.
Sahl is irreverent in his performance and forsakes all sacred cows. In short, he destroys pretensions and tells the truth, adding a little humor for entertainment on the way.
"I'm trying to tell people the truth and keep it funny," Sahl says, and adds that while most comedians deal with escapist material like sex, music and drugs, he "thought the funniest stuff was true."
"I talk from my heart rather than making up a persona," he says. On stage, he is clad in his signature V-shaped sweater and a newspaper in his hand a physical image of the "intelligencia comedy" of which he is credited to be the founder. The genuine wit comes across when he opens his mouth. And when he begins, he is relentless.
"Are there any groups I have not offended?" is his famous line after his swift attacks of almost every social category we have invented. Of course, in order to appreciate this show, you would need to be up to date on America's political situation. But because the scope of material is so wide, there is at least something you will respond to and understand.
Sahl delivers his anecdotal materials in ways so unassuming that at times, it is easy to miss the sarcasm. He is mild-mannered and off-hand in his act. At 66, he isn't energetic onstage, but rather paces around nervously fidgeting and dropping his remarks as part of a casual conversation. His audience is his equal, and just because he is the only one talking, doesn't mean that he fancies himself superior.
"The audience never lets me down," Sahl says, adding that "they are very smart. They know who's lying to them politically ... down in the gut, they know what's right ... you have to lie to them which proves that they are pretty decent people." When the show opens, the first thing he says is how amazed he is that there is an audience waiting for him. He closes the act on the same note, expressing his gratitude for the people out there. He seems sincere, but then again, you can never be too sure.
As a social critic, Sahl wants to bring issues into the spotlight. He is an observer, an odd-ball on the outskirts who listens in.
"I'm just a guy with my nose against the glass looking inside," he says. It is a difficult image to swallow when you consider the fact that he has rubbed shoulders with Kennedy, Ford, Eisenhower and more contemporary figures like Reagan, Bush and Clinton.
As a comedian, he wants to make people laugh, even if it is at their own follies.
"First, we're trying to entertain people and then they can take the information and make up their minds," Sahl explains. "What I try and do is to turn it around and maybe bring a couple of things which they might then consider which will alter their conclusions."
Most importantly, his satires are a means of reacting to the realities of America.
"It is deploying your intellect because you are depressed by what you see emotionally, to keep laughing so you won't start crying," Sahl says. So America is not the golden vision it used to be. Sahl does a thorough job stripping it of its illusions in his satires, but in the process, he has provided a means for the people to have a good laugh at their own foibles, all the while aware of their shortcomings.
STAGE: Mort Sahl's "America" at The Tiffany Theater; July 17- Aug 11; Wednesday-Sunday; $25-30. For more info. call (310) 289-2999.