Tickets, $20. At the Writers Guild Theater, 135 South Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills. Parking available in adjacent lots. For reservations, click here or email us at reservations@writersblocpresents.com.
We hold some truths to be self-evident, and the most obvious is that The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is really funny. Kevin Bleyer is one of the writers on The Daily Show, and he is of course really funny. Follow the logic here: Kevin has written a book about the Constitution, and it too is really really funny. Not the ship, the Constitution, but the other Constitution, that brief document that has shaped our legal system, our government, our electoral system, and our society for the past 225 years.
If you think that this is a dry dusting off of the story of the Founding Fathers convention in Philadelphia, you’re dead wrong. Kevin Bleyer might be just another nutball who wants to rewrite the Constitution—and there have been several—in order to form a more perfect union. He might be a nutball, but he’s a funny nutball, and given that he’s coming to Writers Bloc, he’s our nutball. Kevin gives us his reasons for wanting to rewrite the four page brief that among other things, defines the three branches of government. Kevin points out what the Constitution DOESN’T talk about: slavery, for one thing, democracy another. Kevin reminds us of the powers of the Presidency, and its scope as defined in the Constitution—and just how our Presidents have conveniently forgotten about the limitations the Constitution imposes. For our own good, of course. Kevin defends his right and authority to rewrite it, and rewrite it, article by article, he does just that.
How to make this really funny? It takes a writer for The Daily Show to do it, and it’s pretty hilarious. Me The People places the original Constitution in its historical context, turns James Madison, our “father of the Constitution” into a pretty funny character, and at the same time legitimately (well, almost legitimately) exposes why the document might not be as perfect as it seems. Me The People is not only fabulously funny, it’s the most entertaining book on American history and politics we’ve seen in ages. Framers such as Madison, Ben Franklin, John Hancock and Thomas Jefferson might not be exactly proud of Kevin’s efforts, but they would be wildly amused and greatly enlightened. They would also appreciate his comedy writing for President Obama for the White House Correspondents Dinners, because it is also not written in the Constitution that the President must be funny, and we believe that was a great omission and oversight on the part of the Framers.
While Kevin wants to have the last word on the Constitution of the United States, the guy who really does have The Last Word is Lawrence O’Donnell. We love him on his show on MSNBC, we appreciate him for the vast experience he brings to his desk, we look forward to his interviews that are hard-hitting and revealing. He knows government inside and out, having served as Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance under Senator Moynihan. Let’s not forget The West Wing. He’s funny too.
Tickets, $20. At the Writers Guild Theater, 135 South Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills. Parking available in adjacent lots. For reservations, click here or email us at reservations@writersblocpresents.com.