Funny Business

The Legendary Life and Political Satire of Art Buchwald

By: Michael Hill, Christopher Buckley - foreword

Narrated by: Mark Feuerstein, Christopher Buckley

“A delightful and entertaining book about one of America’s greatest humorists.”—Seth Meyers

This “absorbing, illuminating” (Jon Meacham) biography of the legendary political humorist reveals the life behind his must-read Washington Post columns, featuring never-before-published documents and interviews.

Before Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Doonesbury, there was Art Buchwald. For more than fifty years, from 1949 to 2006, Art Buchwald’s Pulitzer Prize-winning column of political satire and biting wit made him one of the most widely read American humorists and a popular player in the Washington world of Ethel and Ted Kennedy, Ben Bradlee, and Katharine Graham. Dean Acheson, former U.S. Secretary of State, called Buchwald the “greatest satirist in the English language since Pope and Swift.”

Drawing on Buchwald’s most memorable columns and unpublished correspondence with other famous people, Funny Business shows how Art Buchwald became an American original. Like Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, and James Thurber, he satirized political scoundrels, lampooned the powerful, and “worshipped the quicksand” that ten presidents walked on, as Buchwald joked. “The key to Buchwald’s style of humor, he once stated, was to “treat light subjects seriously and serious subjects lightly.”

But there was a darker, more serious side to Art Buchwald. A childhood spent in foster homes taught him to see comedy as a refuge. Buchwald also struggled with depression, a secret he kept from the public for nearly thirty years.

This revealing book is studded with stories of Buchwald’s friendships with Humphrey Bogart, John Steinbeck, Irwin Shaw, William Styron, Erma Bombeck, Frank Sinatra, Adam West ("Batman"), Robert Frost, and others. Throughout his career, Buchwald wrote about such historical events as the Vietnam War, the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, Watergate, and the 9/11 terrorist attack. Featured here are stories of Buchwald’s nonstop one-liners, known in his day as “Buchshots.”

Entertaining and absorbing, Funny Business looks back on Buchwald’s brilliant gift for humor and satire, which will once again bring listeners a comedic respite from troublesome times.

©2022 Michael Hill (P)2022 Random House Audio

Entertaining nostalgia

In these extremely polarized times it's nice to be reminded that political commentary does not have to be vicious or nasty to make a point. Politicians on both sides would do well to take themselves a little less seriously. Though Buchwald's political leanings were clear, at least he was able to reject the expectation to keep the gloves on for those on his political side.

Not as funny as I’d hoped

Buckwald lived a fascinating life, and that is captured here. I found this to be the value of the book. Maybe humor has changed over the years, but I didn’t find any of the so-called “humor” amusing.