We try to ensure that these transcripts do not include errors. (As a service to our readers, we provide transcripts with our podcasts. In looking at what he calls the trickle-down theory of ignorance that has shaped the present day GOP, he fearlessly asks the key question: “Who is the most ignorant person the US is willing to elect?”īorowitz also examines the importance of short takes and short attention spans in understanding contemporary society, with special focus on the role of Twitter in political humor.įinally, even with all the malign buffoons jostling for precedence in contemporary politics, Borowitz is hopeful that, on the local level, we can still groom a new and smart generation of future leaders. He details the critical role that Ronald Reagan played in dumbing down our politics, and he does not shy away from drawing a line between the B-movie actor and a certain failed reality show host. His new book is Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber.īorowitz talks about the theatricality of our politics today, and how, in this time of social media, we forget the power that television wielded in molding the world. In 1998, he began contributing humor to The New Yorker’s “Shouts & Murmurs” and “Talk of the Town” departments, and in 2001, he created “The Borowitz Report,” a satirical news column, which has millions of readers around the world. He graduated from Harvard College, where he was president of The Harvard Lampoon. Menken, on up to more recent provocateurs like Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Al Franken, and our guest on this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast, Andy Borowitz.īorowitz is an award-winning comedian and New York Times bestselling author. We have a strong history of political satirists in the United States, from Mark Twain in the 19th century to such early 20th century wits as Will Rogers and H.L.