Mark Russell, political satirist with a star-spangled piano, dies at 90 [View all]
Source: Washington Post
Mark Russell, Washington’s social-political satirist and stand-up comic who spoofed, teased and laughed at celebrities, politicians, politics and popular culture for more than 50 years from behind his star-spangled piano, died March 30 at his home in D.C. He was 90.
The cause was complications from prostate cancer, said his wife, Alison Russell.
From the waning years of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration through the presidencies of 10 succeeding chief executives, Mr. Russell poked fun at the foibles and flaws of the well-known, the pompous and the powerful in monologues replete with pithy one-liners and musical ditties. He called himself “a political cartoonist for the blind.”
Long an institution on Washington’s stages and in hotel bars, Mr. Russell gained a national following on public television, where for 30 years he made regular broadcasts. In the 1980s and 1990s, he took his show on the road, appearing live in public and corporate venues in cities and towns across the United States.
In addition, he wrote syndicated observations for newspaper op-ed pages, where he delivered such quips as “a broken campaign promise to change the way Washington works is exactly the way Washington works.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/03/30/mark-russell-satirist-pianist-dead/
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