Mark Russell, Washington’s social-political satirist and stand-up comic who spoofed, teased and laughed at celebrities, politicians, politics and popular culture for more than 50 years from behind his star-spangled piano, died March 30 at his home in D.C. He was 90.
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In 1976, when Rep. Wayne Hays (D-Ohio), the powerful chairman of the House Administration Committee, became ensnared in a sex scandal involving a secretary who by her own admission could neither type nor answer telephones, Mr. Russell sang to the tune of “The Rain in Spain”: “The Reign of Wayne seems plainly down the drain.”
Two decades later, Mr. Russell wrote a song tribute to a special prosecutor during the era of President Bill Clinton: “When You Wish Upon Ken Starr.”
When the Rev. Jesse Jackson was running for president as a Democrat in 1984 and invoked a multicolored patchwork quilt to symbolize his “rainbow coalition,” Mr. Russell countered that Republicans had their own quilt. He pulled a white cloth out of a bag and asked viewers to note all the shades of vanilla, ivory and cream.
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For a moment, before he gets into the good stuff, Mark Russell might have been cloned from a Capitol Hill bureaucrat. The first impression is not show biz boffo. It is congressional. He might be the senator or congressman from Bad Axe, Mich., strolling out in a three-piece dark suit to introduce a bill in a resonant voice, a bill resolving that George Bush should be "retired to a home for the chronically preppy," or that the "Republican Party demand that John Anderson take a saliva test."
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Now that Mark Russell has gone national as a humorist, with his own shows on public television, a regular slot on NBC's "Real People," a syndicated column, a daily spot on NBC radio, and an autobiography to be published next fall, the Washington image is still part of his success. It began when he first started out nearly two decades ago, doing a gig at a Capitol Hill club known as the Carroll Arms. It was frequented by congressmen, senators, and their staffs. He says the look was unconscious at first.
"Every once in a while someone would ask me who I worked for on the Hill. They thought I was some guy who got up at the piano for a lark.They thought I looked like somebody's administrative assistant. I did when I was younger. Now I suppose I look like a senator or congressman."
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Russell says the performers who've influenced him have been Mort Sahl and singing satirist Tom Lehrer; Russell's antic parodies of well-known songs, sung in a jaunty baritone at an upright piano, are reminiscent of Lehrer's. Russell's nuclear folk song, for instance, begins: "This uranium is your uranium , this uranium is my uranium, from California. . . ." Other performers he enjoys although "they don't do anything remotely connected with what I do," are Dick Shawn, Lily Tomlin, the English comedy duo Flanders and Swann, and radio's Gene Sheperd.
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Russell's song parodies use melodies from old standards with new humorous lyrics pertinent to the subject matter. For example, in 1990, following the execution of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, Russell did a parody song on his show to the tune of "Chattanooga Choo-Choo". ("Pardon me, boys / Are you the cats who shot Ceauşescu?") Russell himself admits that most of his jokes and songs are very topical and have "a shelf life shorter than cottage cheese"
In 1994, Russell found himself unexpectedly allied with the rap group 2 Live Crew when the group was sued for copyright infringement for their parody of the song "Oh, Pretty Woman". The case went to the Supreme Court, where Russell and the members of 2 Live Crew argued that song parodies were protected under fair use. The Supreme Court agreed and ruled in favor of Russell and 2 Live Crew
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Russell continued to write and perform new song parodies well after his official retirement in 2016, posting new songs on social media throughout the pandemic and as recently last October, with songs taking on recent events including the January 6th insurrection.
Mark Russell was a founding Advisory Board member of the National Comedy Center, the nation’s official cultural institution dedicated to the art of comedy based in Jamestown, NY. His work is preserved in the National Comedy Center’s archives with selections of his hand-written lyrics currently on display in its museum.
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“Mark Russell was a DC institution who did the hardest thing a comic can do…relentlessly and righteously mock his neighbors.” – Jon Stewart, comedian, actor and director…..“When I met Mark Russell, I surprised myself with how excited I was to meet him. As a kid who grew up with a mom who made sure that PBS was on our TV as much as any other channel, Mark’s comedy clearly got in my brain and rewired it. He taught me that comedy could be more than just funny and disposable. He showed that comedy could maybe even be more effective at speaking truth to power, if you made sure people walked out humming along to truth speaking. And he never stopped working, because the point is to keep writing the jokes until the jokes fix the problems. In his honor, I will keep writing the jokes.” – W. Kamau Bell, comedian, producer, writer, host and fellow National Comedy Center Advisory Board Member….“It’s one thing to have a great comedian mind and another to be able to craft a song at the drop of a hat, but to combine them to reveal the endless bullshit of our nation’s politics makes one an American treasure. Mark will be dearly missed by his friends and family, and warmly remembered as a truth teller who made us laugh and want to sing along.” – Kelly Carlin, producer, author and fellow founding National Comedy Center Advisory Board Member (daughter of George Carlin)
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