Paul Krassner

Author, Social Humorist, Yippie, and an original Prankster

PAUL KRASSNER is an award-winning satirist. The Los Angeles Reader stated that he "delivers ninety minutes of the funniest, most intelligent social and political commentary in town."

Krassner remains as contemporary as today's headlines, from the O.J. Simpson trial to the Oklahoma City bombing. He was the head writer for an HBO special satirizing the Presidential election campaign, he did on-air commentary for the Fox Network's "Wilton-North Report," and he was a writer for the Ron Reagan Jr. TV series. Krassner has also appeared on the "Today Show," "The Tonight Show," "60 Minutes," the Conan O'Brian show, and Bill Maher's "Politically Incorrect."

When People magazine called Krassner "the father of the underground press", he immediately demanded a blood test. He published The Realist from 1958 to1974, and began publishing it again in 1985. "The taboos may have changed," he wrote, "but irreverence is still our only sacred cow." His articles have appeared in Rolling Stone, Spin, The Nation (for whom he will soon be writing a column of media criticism), Playboy, Penthouse, The Village Voice, the San Francisco Examiner, the Los Angeles Times, the Whole Earth Review, and High Times.

Krassner's style of personal journalism constantly blurred the line between observer and participant. In the Sixties (before the Roe vs. Wade decision) Krassner interviewed an abortionist, then became an illegal abortion referral service. He covered the anti-war movement, then founded the Yippies with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. He published material on the psychedelic revolution, then took LSD with Timothy Leary and Ram Dass. He later accompanied a curious Groucho Marx on his first acid trip.

Starwood Workshops

Adventures in Freedom of Speech

Before Spy or National Lampoon, before Saturday Night Live or Larry Sanders, before Doonesbury or The Far Side, there was The Realist, a lone voice of irreverence, described mby Steve Allen as "the periodical equivalent of Lenny Bruce," published by Paul Krassner. When People Magazine called him "the father of the underground press," he immediately demanded a paternity test. Now explore with him the minefield of taboos that were waiting to be exploded.

Tales of the Psychedelic Revolution

From Timothy Leary to Ram Dass, from the hippies to the Yippies, from Haight-Ashbury to the Ecuadoran jungle, from John Lennon to Jerry garcia, from the Lower East Side to the Egyptian Pyramids, from Ken Kesey's bus to terence McKenna's time machine, from the Amsterdam Cannabis Cup to medical marijuana in California, from the Summer of Love to the Winter of Discontent, Paul Krassner has been there, as an observer and as a participant.