Last Updated on: 19th July 2023, 07:56 am
P.J. O’Rourke, Political Satirist And Commentator Died At Age 74
PJ O’Rourke, the prolific author and satirist who turned the irreverent and “gonzo” journalism of the 1960s counterculture into a trademark of conservative and libertarian commentary, has died at the age of 74.
O’Rourke died Tuesday morning, according to Morgan Entrekin, editor, and president of Grove Atlantic Inc. Books. The cause was complications from lung cancer.
A native of Toledo, Ohio, Patrick Jake O’Rourke went from long-haired student activist to wavy-haired advocate of his earlier liberal ideals, with some of his most-read takedowns appearing in RollingStone, founder of a countercultural publication. Elsewhere, his career has ranged from editor of the National Lampoon to a stint on 60 Minutes playing the conservative version of Point/Counterpoint; to frequent appearances on the NPR game show “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!”
“Most famous people try to be nicer… in public than in private.” PJ was the only man she knew who was anything but. He was a deeply kind and generous man who pretended to be a curmudgeon to the public,” tweeted Peter Sagal, the host of Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!”
“He told the best stories. He had the most remarkable friends. And he devoted himself to them and their family in a way that would have completely ruined his stunt if anyone found out,” Sagal said.
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His writing style suggested a mixture of Hunter S. Thompson’s hedonism and Tom Wolfe’s patrician mockery: self-importance was a reliable target. But his greatest disdain was often for government, not just for a particular administration, but for government itself. As a young man, he defied the government as the creator of war and drug laws. He then addressed what he called “the threads of rights issuance.”
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