From the archives: Mort Sahl lashes out

Mort Sahl in happier, pre-NPR days

While not at the level of mutual disgust that occured during the Terri Gross-Gene Simmons dustup, here's a clip (edited) of an April 2004 interview between Mort Sahl and WNYC's Brian Lehrer that couldn't have gone much worse. Sahl, appearing on Lehrer's show to promote a standup engagement, quickly gets fed up with both his interviewer and the callers, and when the talk continues to be about Bush versus Kerry instead of things Sahl considers more worthy of conversation--like his current gig-- he really gets his hackles up. He comes off like an old grouch (although as one myself, I agree with him on just about everything here), and Lehrer comes across as a typical simpering public-radio wiffle-ball (as James Wolcott so perfectly called them). (Note: File size is large, 1.30 MB)

P.S. To hear a friendler Mort talking to a better interviewer, here's his July 2003 conversation with Harry Shearer.