Paul Krassner, RIP

Sadly, my friend Paul Krassner, satirist, activist, comedian, author, and publisher of The Realist, has passed away. Since the 1960s, he was always there for me, as I was for him.

Paul was with me on my Hippie Bus Tour To Queens and was part of my Vietnamese Christmas Nativity Burning in Central Park, both in 1968.

In 1969, he published a photo of himself standing with my Grotesque Statues of Liberty on the back cover of his book How a satirical editor became a Yippie conspirator in ten easy years.

Paul used his voice to draw attention to social injustice, inequality and challenges to our freedom. I’ll miss his satirical wit.

Here’s his full obit in The New York Times (for people who can’t access it).

[Editor’s note: The New York Times covered my Hippie Bus Tour to Queens in 1968 when it happened. Years later, in 1992, they misattributed it to Abbie Hoffman and had to print a retraction. They’ve now done it a second time in Paul’s obit. Paul was one of 60 hippies who accompanied me on the tour (Hippie Bus Tour to Queens Remembered 50 years later! by Joey Skaggs, Artsy.net). I know he’d want to set this record straight.]


Paul Krassner, Anarchist, Prankster and a Yippies Founder, Dies at 87
by Joseph Berger
The New York Times
July 21, 2019

Paul Krassner, right, in 1969 with, from left, Ed Sanders of the rock group the Fugs and Abbie Hoffman. Mr. Krassner helped start the Yippie movement and was the founder of The Realist magazine. Credit The New York Times

He was a prankster, a master of the put-on that thumbed its nose at what he saw as a stuffy and blundering political establishment. Continue reading “Paul Krassner, RIP”

Paul Krassner on BookTV

Who’s to Say What’s Obscene? Politics, Culture and Comedy in America Today
by Paul Krassner
BookTV.org
Monday, October 12, 2009

paulkrassner-200About the Program
[This is an hour long reading in which] Mr. Krassner assesses the ongoing conflict between the governmental power that be and cultural opponents. The comic, journalist and author looks at how obscenity is defined, by whom and why. He also examines why drugs laws are what they are and why so many are incarcerated for what he believes are victimless crimes.

About the Author
Paul Krassner
Mr. Krassner is founder of the Realist magazine, a journalist, author, stand-up comedien and close friend of Lenny Bruce. He was also editor of Bruce’s autobiography and his articles have appeared in Rolling Stone, Spin, Playboy, Mother Jones, and National Lampoon.

Watch the video here.
Buy the author’s book here.

thanks Toni

Paul Krassner: High Times Profile

A tribute to Paul Krassner, one of our ArtofthePrank.com contributors from templedragon420, the official archives of High Times Productions:


Paul Krassner founded the underground press when he launched the Realist in 1958. He went on to found the Yippies and publish groundbreaking conspiracy research. Today, he writes a monthly column in High Times called “Brain Damage Control.”

Paul Krassner’s Contributions to the Counterculture

thanks Toni