Will Durst

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Will Durst bigraphy, stories - Comedian

Will Durst : biography

March 18, 1952 –

Will Durst (born March 18, 1952) is an American political satirist; he has been called a modern mix of Mort Sahl and Will Rogers.

Life and career

Durst was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Durst co-hosted a daily morning talk radio show with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown on San Francisco’s progressive talk radio station, KQKE.

He has performed at events featuring Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Al Gore. He also speaks at many Governors Conferences and various Mayors Conventions. He was a correspondent for The Comedy Channel during the 1992 political conventions. His humor and commentaries emphasize his view of illogical and absurd aspects of politics, leadership, and human behavior. Having had 108 jobs in his lifetime all — listed on his official Web site — Durst claims, "he can relate to the common working man." He once ran for mayor of San Francisco to get his name out there. Durst makes an annual return to Milwaukee during Thanksgiving to visit family and perform for his hometown.

He writes several Internet columns, contributes to Independent Media Institute’s Alternet.org on a regular basis, is a former contributing editor to National Lampoon and George, and has contributed to various periodicals such as the New York Times, the The Funny Times and his hometown San Francisco Chronicle. His podcasts can be heard on audible.com.

An Emmy nominee and host/co-producer of the PBS series Livelyhood, he is also a regular commentator on NPR, CNN, and C-SPAN. He has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, Comedy Central, HBO and Showtime. He received seven consecutive nominations for the American Comedy Awards Stand Up Comedian of the Year.

Will premiered his one man show "The All-American Sport of BiPartisan Bashing" at the New World Stages Off Broadway in New York City August 2007 to rave reviews from both the New York Times and the New York Post.

Television

On February 24, 2000, Durst was used as a phone-a-friend lifeline on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire by contestant Rudy Reber. The question, worth $500,000, was "who directed Michael Jackson’s music video for the song Bad". After hearing the choices, Durst said "Landis," as in director John Landis. Reber locked it in as his final answer, which was wrong. (Martin Scorsese was the correct answer). As a result, Reber’s winnings plummeted from $250,000 to $32,000, a loss of $218,000. Durst later wrote an article for TV Guide on the incident.