This was a very sad moment this week. I bumbled on to ABC radio to talk about who PJ was and why he mattered. But unsurprisingly Jonathon V Last did it better at The Bulwark. P.J. was most famous for being a funnyman, but early on he did all kinds of writing. He reported. He did longform. He wrote books. And this is a big part of why writers admired him so much: P.J. could hit to all fields with power. And while he became a star, with the kind of career that most of us only dream of, he came up the hard way. He did not emerge fully formed from William Shawn’s head like Athena. He worked for it.
everyone deserves a write up like that on their passing. Even the guy whose small headstone i saw in a tiny graveyard in some backwater in England. All it said was "a contemptible old bastard".
A bit sad that I only learned of this from stalking Axis Of TIme updates. His political articles/books (with extreme Terry Pratchett level word use) is very good (should anyone want to see some apt descriptions of American political processes in the late 1980s /early 1990s, I strongly recommend Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance)
Matt Labash and John Podhoretz wrote nice obits at The Bulwark, too. H/T to you for introducing me to TB.
PJ was a mentor for me as a young man. The Bachelor Home Companion assured me that I wasn't the only one who used the Jelly/Kitchen Sink method of washing dishes and All the Trouble in the World got me hooked on Gonzo journalism in the serious, lofty newsrooms of World Affairs.
I'm pretty sure that all men whose life goals included outdoor jacuzzis, dinner suits after 6, Martinis and a bevvy of suggestible young ladies reclining on bearskins in front of the fire owe a hat tip to PJ.
Article title of the century goes to 'How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink'.
I read some pj stuff a few years back. You know it's good when you don't necessarily like the politics, but really dig the quality of the writing.
everyone deserves a write up like that on their passing. Even the guy whose small headstone i saw in a tiny graveyard in some backwater in England. All it said was "a contemptible old bastard".
A bit sad that I only learned of this from stalking Axis Of TIme updates. His political articles/books (with extreme Terry Pratchett level word use) is very good (should anyone want to see some apt descriptions of American political processes in the late 1980s /early 1990s, I strongly recommend Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance)
Matt Labash and John Podhoretz wrote nice obits at The Bulwark, too. H/T to you for introducing me to TB.
PJ was a mentor for me as a young man. The Bachelor Home Companion assured me that I wasn't the only one who used the Jelly/Kitchen Sink method of washing dishes and All the Trouble in the World got me hooked on Gonzo journalism in the serious, lofty newsrooms of World Affairs.
I'm pretty sure that all men whose life goals included outdoor jacuzzis, dinner suits after 6, Martinis and a bevvy of suggestible young ladies reclining on bearskins in front of the fire owe a hat tip to PJ.
Article title of the century goes to 'How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink'.
Who can forget his magnificent piece "How To Drive Fast On Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink"