The Future Lies Ahead

Mort Sahl revolutionized comedy, revitalized satire, and the trenchant humor of his The Future Lies Ahead forever changed American comedy. Sahl rose from a regular at San Francisco's Hungry i to national prominence in the late 1950s with a radio show for NBC, but he really broke when he made the cover of Time in 1959. Sahl caught America's attention with his brilliant combination of verbal scatology, pointed political satire, and a stage presence that veered between openly hostile and cloyingly introverted. Nixon, Stevenson, and Eisenhower were all favorite targets, and, unlike today's political humor, Sahl demonstrated a considered engagement with political rationales as opposed to the simple foibles of politicians' personalities. His self-depreciating, well-read style anticipated Woody Allen and Andy Kaufman, while his digressive, free-for-all form evidenced his familiarity with jazz. The Future Lies Ahead, his first record, contains classic Sahl material and attacks a number of his pet pariahs. Sahl cracks jokes on his ultra-conservative landlady ("a member of the DAR and the Anti-United Nations League"), his Korean military experience ("World War Two and Half"), and the absurdity of air defense drills. He closes, and brings down the house, with his best-known routine where a group of bank robbers, studied in psychotherapy, offer excuses for their criminal natures. Insightful and acerbic, the album delivers what its cover promises: "Mort Sahl, Iconoclast."