Dead Presidents' Society

UPDATE: Robbie has informed me that I don't read my own blog.  Somehow I missed his post about this within the silly "South Park" and "American Idol" stuff.  Oh, well.  Now you know how we both feel about it.

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Back in college, my first U.S. history course was taught by one of those pointy-headed academics who seemed unable to see any redeeming features whatsoever in America.

And it was a stretch to call the class "U.S. History," really.  The only books on his syllabus that were even tangentially related to our nation's past dealt with "CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade," and a boring story about a loser that was turned into a movie starring someone much better looking than the real guy.

But oh, how I wish that Robert Wuhl had been my professor.  Why would I want a B-list comedian teaching me history?  Because it is probably the closest thing to Robin Williams in "Dead Poets' Society" that most people will ever come.

Wuhl's new special on HBO – "Assume the Position" – is a sharp, witty romp through history, "the stories that made up America and the stories that America made up."  A combination between a comedy monologue and a college lecture, Wuhl's rapid-fire delivery and Powerpoints will entertain students and cable viewers alike.  And they might learn something along the way, such as how they "did it" during Colonial times, or how Freddie Mercury embodies the effete continuation of a bellicose heritage that dates back centuries.

Can you imagine such a thing on network television?  The suits probably would have made him set the whole thing on a beach full of scantily clad co-eds.  (Some of the language might make the clip NSFW.)

O Arliss, my Arliss!

[Watch video – 10:07, WMV format, high bandwidth]

[Watch video – 10:07, WMV format, low bandwidth]

Comments

[sonicfrog]

WOW!!! That's rich! I wonder if he gets into the party lives of Hamilton, Burr, or the biggest Rock Star of the day, Ben Franklin? Though Franklin has the rep for being a hussy, both H and B probably out boinked him. And Burr used to write letters to his daughter, Theodosia, bragging about his liaisons with Miss *whosits* or La *insert female's name or initial here*. Those guys were players!

[Queer Conservative]

Mal - just ask Robbie about all the times I've had to point out stuff to him over here that he hadn't read ...

[Oscar]

I saw the sketch and I found it banal and begging the laugh by making asenine jokes about gays. It reminded me of the 1970's stupid skits in colleges. The ones that were made by the same guys that were so drunk the night before and can't remember why their assholes hurt the day after. Like Willy Nelson says in his latest song about gay cowboys, the ones that crow the loudest about their heterosexual prowesses are the queer ones. Believe me Matt you didn't miss very much.