Standing at a star-spangled grand piano, political satirist Mark Russell entertained an appreciative – and, judging by response, bipartisan – crowd during a luncheon presentation yesterday at Direct Marketing Days New York.
Russell began his set with sly pokes aimed at his hosts, introducing himself as “another white man from the head table.” The other featured luncheon speaker fared no better. “Every time I come to New York I learn something,” said Russell. “Today I learned who the postmaster general was.” Turning to Postmaster General William J. Henderson Russell quipped “Thanks for the Christmas cards. They arrived yesterday.”
Shortly thereafter, the man from Washington (“where the truth is a second language”) performed a song-and-standup set that left no prominent national figure – from Jesse Jackson to Jesse Helms – unscathed. After noting that, thanks to direct marketing, we can now mail atomic secrets directly to the Chinese government and eliminate the middleman, his monologue turned from direct marketing in favor of his specialty, politics.
Russell’s set included commentary on the situation in Kosovo (where “another bomb went astray and accidentally killed some Serbian soldiers”), a proposed Senate campaign song for Hillary Rodham Clinton (“She’ll Take Manhattan”) and a borderline unprintable song about memorable body parts that figured in President Clinton’s impeachment trial. The blandness of potential presidential candidates Al Gore (whose fundraising mechanism was derailed when the United States accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Kosovo) and George W. Bush (“compassionate conservatism – when will he make up his mind?”) also provided grist for Russell’s mill.
