Thank you P.J.

There is probably nobody who has influenced my writing, or my thinking, more than P.J. O’Rourke.

I first discovered him as a teenager, in the pages of Rolling Stone magazine. Officially, he was the “Foreign Affairs Desk Chief,” but according to him he only held that title because “Middle-Aged Drunk” wouldn’t look good on a business card. He might have been the magazine’s token conservative, but he clicked with me like no other writer has. (Despite being a huge music fan I was more Alex P. Keaton than Jeff Spicoli.) 

P.J. was the conservative even liberals loved. He wrote about economics and politics, but he also got paid to write articles titled “How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink.” In other words, he was my hero. He is the only writer who has consistently made me laugh out loud.

Above all, P.J. was a libertarian, and he expressed these views in a way that made you feel like any other opinion was just silly. Because, frankly, they kind of are. And nobody was safe - in Parliament of Whores he wrote "The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then get elected and prove it." 

If you get to reading my book you’ll find that if I wrote something that made you smile, I was probably channeling P.J. when I did it. I purposely tried to bring his snark and humor into my writing and I hope I was able to capture a small bit of it. 

He died this week at the too-young age of 74.

I light up a cigar and raise a glass to him.

Thanks P.J.