A long-time political satirist is finding an endless stream of material. Buffalo native and PBS comedy icon Mark Russell is still dishing out his tough political humor to both republicans and democrats. He returned home last Friday for a performance with for the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site. WBFO's Eileen Buckley sat down with Russell who continues his work at the age of 84.
"Material is coming a little bit too fast. It's like a gusher and I'm running around with a bucket trying to catch it all," said Russell. "I can't keep up. I'm telling you the truth. I can't keep up with the rhetoric, the empty-campaign rhetoric there's so much of many of these controversial issues that I have to double up on them to save time."
Russell's thoughts on Donald Trump: "It's difficult for him to smile. He's a very, very crude guy. Now having said that, in a sense, he could be good for America because he becomes more full of himself, more self-absorbed, he could explode which would be an unlimited source of natural gas without fracking," remarked Russell.
What does Russell have to say about Democratic Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders? "You have 20 some things flocking to a 74-year-old which is a classic case of Common Core math," said Russell.
Russell has a limerick for Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. "The Clinton Foundation, that's the new World Bank, Hillary and Bill have lots of folks to thank. If they make it to the White House, it will be said, the Lincoln Bedroom's going to need a bigger bed," stated Russell.
Russell noted, when he did his shows for PBS, "the whole idea was that he was bipartisan, equal opportunity offender."
Russell said when he's entertaining, watch out he will be using the "F" word, 'filibusterer."
