On this date in 1932, comedian and radical editor Paul Krassner was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to to Ida and Michael Krassner, both of Jewish descent. His mother, who immigrated from Russia as an infant, was a legal secretary. His father was a newspaper printing compositor with a cynical streak.
A violin prodigy, Krassner performed at Carnegie Hall at age 6. He majored in journalism at Baruch College (then a branch of the City College of New York) and started performing as a comedian under the name Paul Maul. A co-founder of the Yippies (Youth International Party) with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, he edited The Realist from 1958-74.
When People magazine dubbed the stand-up satirist the "father of the underground press," he quipped that he would demand a paternity test. Both journalist and activist, Krassner, after interviewing a doctor who was performing abortions before their legalization, decided to run an underground abortion referral service.
An FBI agent once wrote a letter to the editor saying, "To classify Krassner as a social rebel is far too cute. He's a nut, a raving, unconfined nut." His 1993 memoir was subsequently titled Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut: Misadventures in the Counterculture."
Krassner edited Lenny Bruce's biography, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People. His comedy records included "We Have Ways of Making You Laugh." After ABC's Harry Reasoner said, "Krassner not only attacks establishment values; he attacks indecency in general," he called his one-man show "Attacking Indecency in General." He wrote for Rolling Stone, Spin, Mother Jones, The Nation and Ron Reagan's late-night talk show. Krassner was inducted in the Counterculture Hall of Fame in 2002.
His many books included The Winner of the Slow Bicycle Race: The Satiric Writings of Paul Krassner, Impolite Interviews, Murder at the Conspiracy Convention and Other American Absurdities. The San Francisco Examiner said of him: "He has lived on the edge so long he gets his mail delivered there." He repeatedly identified himself as an atheist in his interviews and writings. "I had become an atheist at the age of thirteen, when atomic bombs were dropped on Japan," he wrote in Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut.
Krassner had a daughter, Holly, with his first wife, Jeanne Johnson, who had been his secretary. After divorcing, he married artist and videographer Nancy Cain on April Fools' Day 1988 at City Hall. They were married until his death at home at age 87 in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. (D. 2019)