Mark Russell, the political satirist who delivered his wisecracks to the tunes of his piano on PBS specials for nearly 30 years, died today of prostate cancer at his home in Washington, D.C. He was 90
Still, his amenable demeanor could serve as Trojan Horse for his most pointed and ego-deflating quips. After the exposure of President Bill Clinton’s sexual peccadillos, Russell said, “Believe me when I say that Bill Clinton’s second term will be good for business. My business.”
“Mark Russell was an extraordinarily talent satirist with a unique comic voice,” said comedian Lewis Black in a statement today. “He had a rapier wit. Which are words I rarely use to describe a comedian.”host Jon Stewart said, “Mark Russell was a DC institution who did the hardest thing a comic can do…relentlessly and righteously mock his neighbors.”
Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Russell briefly attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C. before a stint in the Marines. By the early 1960s, he was presenting his song parodies as a resident performer as the Shoreham Hotel in D.C., building a name in comedy that led to PBS the following decade.
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