Where have all the young satirists gone?

The other day I was browsing the magazine rack at our local supermarket and realized there was nothing, absolutely nothing I wanted to purchase. All that existed was a bunch of dreary glossies concerned with either specialty matters (travel, sewing, being a 20-year-old studmuffin, being a 17-year-old bimbo, or whatever scandals the scandal-ridden have been involved in lately), or boring hi-tech stuff.

There once was a time. There was a time in which I spent a considerable sum on magazines of various sorts, all the way from Newsweek, to Rolling Stone, to Playboy (which I actually ‘read’ for the articles – yeah – I did – really!). But, the biggest magazine drawing card for me was the satirical mags. Having been weaned on Mad, I took to the National Lampoon like some simile to some equally lame metaphor. The Lampoon when it originated was wonderful. It was intelligent, it was irreverent, it was dirty, and it was ‘in-yer-face’ brilliant. Most of the founders, Doug Kenney, Tony Hendra, PJ O’Rourke, were Harvard alums and had cut their teeth on the equally brilliant (in those days) Harvard Lampoon.

As it is, I own the entire first year of the NL and I cherish it as a nostalgic possession. But, there were other satirical periodicals of the time, such as Spy Magazine, the Canadian Frank, and in the UK, Private Eye. All were ruthless in their intelligent skewering of virtually everybody.

In that context, I want to get to my (ahem) thesis, which is: Satire was a product of the so-called ‘Boomer’ and pre-boomer generation, and that satire is now dead. There is virtually no good satire on the horizon. Yes, there have been good satirical movies in recent recall, like Spinal Tap, and the brilliant and warped cinematic offerings of the Coen brothers, but the makers of such material are all from ‘my’ generation.

You can also cite The Simpsons, but Groening is my generation and probably appeals mostly to those of my generation.

Think of the brilliant satirical stuff from the 70s. The whole Monty Python oeuvre, Saturday Night Live (in its original incarnation, not now), SCTV, Soap, and so on. All products of an earlier generation. Airplane and films of its ilk all stem from an earlier time.

My point is, this insane world we have today is overripe for lambasting in the most ruthless and brilliantly funny way, but it’s not happening for the young. Why not? Don’t cite Jon Stewart because he again is earlier generation, so are Colbert, Lewis Black and so on.

We need satire. When the old satirists are too enfeebled and alzheimerish to produce any longer, who will take up the slack? I need it. And, judging from the blogs of many of my dear friends, so do you. You people write some awfully brilliant stuff. Let’s get together and start a magazine and show them how it should be done.

Frankly, I am weary of untaxing and offensive smut and vulgarity. If you want to be smutty and vulgar, temper it with a message. Messages are needed.

Thank you. I shall now exit the podium.

I shall also say I am now officially off on vacation and will be hitting the road early tomorrow a.m. However, I am taking my laptop with me, so if I can post, I shall do so. If I cannot, suffice it to say I love you all and will be back soon.