For years conservatives have had to put up with the unjustified criticism that they have no sense of humor.  Seriously, it was never true but many people still believed it.  And while Rush Limbaugh does have his moments, humor was never his main strength.  Ann Coulter is also quite funny at times, but she also tends to be too acidic, and if you had to put up with what she has to sometimes, you would be too.  Seriously, Al Franken impugning her intelligence?  We did have P. J. O’Rourke for a while, but unfortunately he seems to have abandoned the comedy scene. 

Enter Burt Prelutsky.  A Hollywood conservative, by his own admission, and a man who has a gift for humor that is rare indeed.  His latest work, Conservatives Are From Mars (Liberals Are From San Francisco): A Hollywood Rightwinger Comes Out of the Closer, is one of the best pieces of humor writing I’ve encountered since the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  Like Douglas Adams, Prelutsky has a skill for finding the absurd in almost anything, and then writing about it in a manner that probably generates more laughs per page than he intended.  One of the first things I noted about this work was that while I found a great deal to enjoy, there were other items hiding in it that would probably appeal to someone else’s funny bone, rather than mine.  His humor appears almost universal in scope. 

Burt Prelutsky has been a writer for years. He has penned humor and movie reviews for Los Angeles-based print media, and has contributed freelance material to a variety of publications including TV Guide, Modern Maturity and Sports Illustrated.  As a television writer he has worked for Dragnet, McMillan & Wife, MASH, Bob Newhart, Dr. Quinn and Diagnosis Murder, as well as other series and a number of television movies.  He is also responsible for at least 4 other books. 

It appears that his breadth of experience lends itself well to his humor writing, as Burt can pick on everyone from his mother to Hollywood agents.  There is pretty much no one who is spared being skewered, except those people he does not know enough of to do so.  Thank goodness he doesn’t know me, because I could probably give him a bundle of material.  Of importance is the simple fact that his skewers are always applied in good taste and without acrimony.  You can tell that underneath it all he is, at heart, a nice guy. 

Perhaps the one thing that shows Burt Prelutsky at his best is when he digs into his own experiences.  Driving or bicycling through Beverly Hills, which his family lived next door to but not in, gives him an opportunity to deal with police traffic stops.  His mother’s cooking gives him a few chances to discuss his family life and possible other uses for her culinary specialties.  Then there was his experience with 60 Minutes.  Now maybe he is no Jack Benny when it comes to making fun of himself, but then Jack was one of a kind.  Burt may be too.  After all, he’s the guy who figured out that lawyers should come with warning labels. 

Finally, what really shines through all the humor is one unavoidable fact; at the heart of all humor is a grain of truth.  That’s why the old joke about “the check is in the mail” is funny.  Burt not only laughs at the truth, but he shows us things we may not have realized about it.  It is common sense in a lot of cases, but common sense is often a rare commodity in our modern society.  He is experienced and well educated as well as humorous.  America could use more writers and commentators like him.  Just about everyone should find him enjoyable.  A few who might not would probably include Ted Kennedy, but there is always an exception to the rule.   

If you need one more great selling point, those folks who don’t have time to settle down for an entire evening with a book, Conservatives Are From Mars is written as a series of vignettes lasting perhaps an average of three and a half pages.  You can sit down, take a short break with probably at least ten laughs, and then go on to what ever busy-ness you have to take care of next.  Of course you might enjoy it enough to put things off just a bit.  Once you get into it you don’t really want to put it down.  This is one book that should not be missed, regardless of your viewpoints.  And you might learn a thing or two in the middle of all those laughs. 

Conservatives Are From Mars is available on Amazon.com.

Steven Laib is a practicing attorney.

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