Love, Politics and Revolution with Mort Sahl

Here’s what you may know about Mort Sahl: He’s widely considered the father of political comedy. He was the first comic to appear on the cover of Time magazine. He was the first non-musician to receive a Grammy award (in fact, he hosted the first-ever Grammy Awards in 1959). He’s poked fun at every president from Kennedy to Obama, and managed to maintain friendships with quite a few of them, too.

Here’s something else you might know: For a little over a year, Mort Sahl has called Mill Valley home. You may have seen him at one of his favorite hang-outs, like , the , or .

This Friday, Sahl - a self-described political radical - brings his trademark biting humor (and a rolled-up newspaper tucked under his arm) to yet another of his favorite hang-outs: the stage of .

On a sunny Friday morning - the same morning that Hosni Mubarak finally announced he would step down as the president of Egypt – Sahl, sprightly and animated at 83, sat down with Mill Valley Patch over coffee at to talk politics, comedy, and romance. Here are some snippets:

On the Egyptian revolution: Dictators go, but dictatorship does not go. This guy who just left, Mubarak, was our guy for 30 years, a CIA guy. They’re the largest recipient of U.S. aid other than Israel. So where were we on this for the last 30 years? We’ve been part of it [the problem].

On President Obama: He’s very remote. Did you watch him talking about Egypt? Very remote, robotic. Reminds me of someone reading from a script. I’m wondering what he’s afraid to let go of. He’s very careful.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: I was surprised that Obama got the nomination. I don’t know why people jumped ship. Have you read (Carl) Bernstein’s book (A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton)? It’s interesting, it says that after Yale, she wanted to go to Oakland to work for black people, but then instead she goes to Arkansas [with Bill]. Why did she do it? Because she was crazy in love with the guy, right? But love is out of control, and she never looked out of control to me. So, I doubt if she really loved that guy. She looks to me.... prepared. Never spontaneous.

On Sarah Palin: I’m going to surprise you about Sarah Palin. I think it’s class discrimination behind the [liberals’ dislike for] Palin. I get the feeling that liberals think she’s the type of person that’s supposed to come once a week to straighten up the house. It’s a class thing… She’s a distraction, and she wouldn’t be a distraction if the party had a real candidate.

On the apparent lack of cohesion within the Republican party: Try this on. Is it possible that if the CIA is capable of starting wars around the world, they could also be responsible for destabilizing the Republican party? That’s why there’s no candidate. I know lots of Republicans. I knew Reagan intimately, I knew General Haig intimately – very close friends. How could that party fall apart? But anyway - the same guys want to control it [the country] no matter who’s elected – and they do.

On his history with the Kennedys: With Kennedy, his father (Joseph Kennedy) hired me, originally as a joke writer. He wanted me to character-assassinate Nixon – I had some experience with that! Later, when [JFK] got elected, I started making jokes about him, and his father got very vindictive. But you know who was a really decent guy? Sargent Shriver. Definition of a decent man. But that’s a whole different story - that would make a terrific movie, by the way – marrying into a powerful clan like the Kennedys.

On actor-turned-politician Ronald Reagan: I knew both the Reagans extremely well. He had a great sense of humor. He was always in on the joke. Actors becoming politicians… it’s an interesting question, you know. There are a lot of actors in democratic politics – Alec Baldwin, Warren Beatty. But none of them ever got up and ran for anything. Reagan did.

On the Ronald-Nancy love affair: Nancy had that thing where if a man went out and conquered the world, it didn’t mean a thing unless he came home to her.

On George W. Bush: No humor. Whatsoever. And he knows it! He says so himself.

On comedians today: First of all, the "kids" today are all 50! Most of it is hogwash, they're all soft. My own entertainment tastes run towards music. I love to listen to jazz music – I heard some the other night at Di Vino in Sausalito.

On longtime friend Clint Eastwood: I’ve known him 50 years. Now there’s a guy who finally found the right girl! I worked for him as a writer – my first sale was to him. I believe in cowboys, I believe in detectives. I don’t care as much for his recent work. He’s gotten a lot of acclaim for that stuff, but I don’t know if those are my favorite pictures. I really like Dirty Harry. I remember [him shooting] Sudden Impact in Santa Cruz. That’s my gun he used!

On Orson Welles: He said to me once that he thought the intellectuals were the real enemy - they had icewater in their veins. But the town did a real number on him.

On David Fincher's The Social Network: I saw that movie with Robin [Williams] in Sausalito. Only people in the theater. When the picture was over, Robin turned to me and said, “Welcome to the future.” I found it chilling.

On movies today: The guys making movies now… you know - the Sundance crowd - I wish they’d make movies instead of films. People don’t realize, all the great writers of the century – Faulkner, you know - they all wrote for the Hollywood studios. They wrote real stories.

On living in Mill Valley versus Los Angeles: I like it here, there’s a feeling of service. An understanding of the pain of others. Los Angeles, that’s just anarchic. It’s a trough, a marketplace. Everybody there, especially actors, are there for the money.

On women: When did women stop being the prize? They really do know more than us. I love that saying that goes, "A woman who fights for equality is renouncing her superiority."

The 411: Mort Sahl appears at 142 Throckmorton Theatre Friday, February 18, at 8:00pm. Tickets are $30 general admission/$40 reserved seating. Click here for more information or to buy tickets.