I first met Patrick Jake – P.J. – O’Rourke at a Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick dinner in Washington many years ago. Over the clinking of ice cubes, he kindly permitted me to recollect some of his more memorable early works – later suggesting that some of the saltier pieces may be better off left in the past. But, beyond the banter and the laughter, what impressed me most about P.J. wasn’t his sense of humor; it was his humanity.
As his wife recently reminded me, “The difference with P.J. is that he actually likes people.”
In the development of my sense of humor, MAD Magazine played a critical role in my early years. As I matured, the Harvard Lampoon spinoff National Lampoon burst on the scene with all the parody and satire and sick humor that was fit to print. No matter how weird the world seemed, the ‘Poon could poke fun at it and make it funny.
An Ohio native, P.J. O’Rourke ended up in New York in 1973, and at 26 he joined the fledgling National Lampoon – serving as editor-in-chief from 1978 through 1981. He was the only member of the Lampoon staff who admitted to voting for Gerald Ford.
While at the Lampoon, he wrote a number of side-splitting articles such as “Foreigners Around the World” and – one of my favorites – “How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink.”
He was largely responsible for the National Lampoon’s 1973 publication – the “1964 High School Yearbook Parody” – complete with a report card, diploma, detention slips and a fake ID – all belonging to a Larry Kroger, class of 1964 at the C. Estes Kefauver High School in Dacron, Ohio.
Larry Kroger went on to become a freshman at Faber College – and one of the protagonists of the National Lampoon’s 1978 iconic movie – “Animal House.” Let us not soon forget that, “Knowledge is good.”
Long before things became quite so correct, P.J. and the National Lampoon team helped define modern comedy in print, radio, television and movies.
After the ‘Poon, P.J. spent over two decades free-lancing for a number of publications – including a stint as Rolling Stone’s foreign affairs desk chief – as the world’s only trouble-spot humorist, covering wars, riots and other disasters.
He went on to write some nineteen books on subjects as diverse as politics and cars, etiquette and economics. “Parliament of Whores” and “Give War a Chance” both reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list.
His journey from irreverent Marxist at Miami of Ohio to irreverent Republican was brilliantly chronicled in a collection of essays – “Republican Party Reptile: The Confessions, Adventures, Essays and Outrages of P.J. O’Rourke.”
“We are in favor of: guns, drugs, fast cars, free love (if our wives don’t find out), a sound dollar, and a strong military with spiffy uniforms. There are thousands of people in America who feel this way, especially after three or four drinks. If all of us would unite and work together, we could give this country … well, a real bad hangover.”
If Mark Twain – aka Samuel Clemens – is correct that “humor is mankind’s greatest blessing,” then Patrick Jake O’Rourke blessed us all by delivering some of our era’s finest wit and humor.
In a world that seems to have lost an appreciation of a good laugh, he will be missed.
Clifton Rodgers is a recovering banker, former Treasury Department official, long-time policy advocate and occasional writer based in Washington DC.