Contributor

Paul Krassner

Author and Satirist

Paul Krassner's latest book is an expanded edition of his 1993 autobiography, "Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut: Misadventures in the Counterculture," available at paulkrassner.com, along with the Disneyland Memorial Orgy poster.

His most recent collections are Who's to Say What's Obscene: Politics, Culture and Comedy in America Today, with a foreword by Arianna Huffington; In Praise of Indecency: Dispatches From the Valley of Porn; and One Hand Jerking: Reports From an Investigative Satirist, with a foreword by Harry Shearer and an introduction by Lewis Black.

Krassner's FBI files indicate that after Life magazine published a favorable profile of him, the FBI sent a poison-pen letter to the editor, complaining: "To classify Krassner as a social rebel is far too cute. He's a nut, a raving, unconfined nut."

"The FBI was right," said George Carlin. "This man is dangerous--and
funny; and necessary."

When People magazine called Krassner "Father of the underground
press," he immediately demanded a paternity test. He had published
The Realist magazine from 1958 to 1974. He reincarnated it as a
newsletter in 1985. "The taboos may have changed," he wrote, "but
irreverence is still our only sacred cow." The final issue was
published in Spring 2001.

Krassner's style of personal journalism constantly blurred the line between observer and participant. He interviewed a doctor who performed abortions when it was illegal, then ran an underground referral service. He covered the antiwar movement, then co-founded the Yippies with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. He published material on the psychedelic revolution, then took LSD with Tim Leary, Ram Dass and Ken Kesey.

He edited Lenny Bruce's autobiography, How to Talk Dirty and
Influence People, and with Lenny's encouragement, became a stand-up
performer himself, opening at the Village Gate in New York in 1961. Ten years later--five years after Lenny's death--Groucho Marx said, "I
predict that in time Paul Krassner will wind up as the only live Lenny
Bruce."