PJ O’Rourke, the satirist, political commentator, and bestselling author known for books like “Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Trying to Explain the Entire American Government,” for outspoken articles in a wide variety of magazines, and for appearances on the NPR show “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me” and numerous TV talk shows, died Tuesday at his home in Sharon, NH. He was 74.
The cause was complications from lung cancer, said Deb Seager, the publicity director at Grove/Atlantic, the publisher of Mr. O’Rourke.
O’Rourke, whose political writings were in the caustic tradition of HL Mencken, was a proud conservative Republican — one of his books was called “Republican Party Reptile: The Confessions, Adventures, Essays and (Other) Outrages of PJ O’ Rourke” — but he was widely admired by streaky readers for his fearless style and willingness to mock just about anyone who deserved it, including himself.In “Republican Party Reptile” he recalled his youthful flirtation with Mao.
“But I couldn’t stay a Maoist forever,” he wrote. “I’ve become too fat to wear wide pants. And I realized that communism meant giving my golf clubs to a family in Zaire.”
In 2010, DailyExpertNews invited him and gathered other prominent people to define “Republican” and “Democrat.” He offered this:
“The Democrats are the party that says the government will make you smarter, taller, richer and get rid of the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says the government doesn’t work and then gets elected and proves it.”
Memory of PJ O’Rourke (1947-2022)
The satirist, political commentator and bestselling author died on February 15. He was 74.
Mr O’Rourke was prolific. In addition to some 20 books, he wrote a column for The Daily Beast for a time and appeared regularly in The Atlantic, The American Spectator, Rolling Stone and The Weekly Standard, where he was a contributing editor. He was the conservative side of a dot-counter segment on ’60 Minutes’ in the mid-1990s and a guest on ‘Real Time With Bill Maher’, ‘The Daily Show’, ‘Charlie Rose’ and other talk shows.
Mr. O’Rourke was most often identified as a political satirist, but his subjects extended well beyond the political. His first book, published in 1983 (and reissued in 1989), was called “Modern Manners: An Etiquette Book for Rude People.”
“Good manners can replace intellect by providing a set of memorized answers to almost any situation in life,” he wrote. Memorized responses eliminate the need for thought. Thinking is not a very valuable pastime anyway. Thinking allows the brain, an inert and mushy organ, to exercise unfair domination over firmer and more active parts of the body.”
The book was full of practical advice, including this one for men: “A hat should be removed when greeting a lady and for the rest of your life. Nothing looks dumber than a hat.”
For many fans, his signature book was ‘Parliament of Whores’, first published in 1991.
“While this is a conservative book,” explained Mr. O’Rourke on the opening pages, “it is not based on a very comprehensive political theory. I have only one firm belief about the American political system, and that is this: God is a Republican and Santa is a Democrat.”
Signe Wilkinson, who reviewed that book in The Times, wrote: “A ride with PJ O’Rourke is like riding in the back of an old pickup truck on dirt roads. You’ll quickly get where you’re going, with breathtaking views but not without a few bruises.”
A full obituary will be published shortly.