http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Commodore%20Skahill/Colin%20McEnroe%20Show%2002-23-2012.mp3
Mort Sahl was one of the true American -- actually he was from Canada -- ironists, in the sense that his lines -- I can't really call them jokes -- were more likely to make you think than make you laugh.
Of President Bush in 2004, he said, "He's the face on the can. But who canned that soup?" In the same routine he claimed that God watches what liberals do. "If we support someone we don't believe in and say he's electable, then God will make sure he's not elected and hope we do better the next time."
Here's Sahl on human relations: "People tell me there are a lot of guys like me, which doesn't explain why I'm lonely."
Some of his jokes are funny without really being understandable: "You haven't lived until you've died in California."
Our guest today is a scholar of irony, and I think he'd like that last line. Jonathan Lear thinks irony should pierce us to our core as we explore the gap between what we think and what really is.
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