Legendary journalist and political satirist P.J. O’Rourke has died from lung cancer complications at 74.
The news was confirmed by his publisher Grove Atlantic in a statement Tuesday.
O’Rourke — a libertarian famed for his razor-sharp wit — notably skewered both Democrats and Republicans in print and on television.
“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys,” O’Rourke famously wrote in 1991. He later described the presidency of Barack Obama as “the Carter administration in better sweaters.”
O’Rourke gained national attention writing for humor magazine the National Lampoon in the 1970s, before going on to pen pieces for Playboy, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. He also published more than a dozen best-selling books, including 1987’s “Republican Party Reptile.”
O’Rourke later became a fixture on late-night comedy shows, and served as a reporter for “Real Time with Bill Maher.” In recent years, he regularly appeared as a panelist on NPR’s popular quiz show “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me.”
The program’s host, Peter Sagal, confirmed his friend’s death in a touching Twitter thread Tuesday.
“I’m afraid it’s true. Our panelist and my dear friend P.J. O’Rourke has passed away,” Sagal tweeted.
“It is very rare in life to be a fan of someone and then become their friend, but it happened to me with PJ, and I discovered something remarkable,” he continued. “He told the best stories. He had the most remarkable friends. And he devoted himself to them and his family in a way that would have totally ruined his shtick had anyone ever found out.”
Sagal poignantly added: “Like some other people, it took him two tries to get marriage right, so he leaves behind a wife, Tina, and three children who are far too young to lose their husband and father. His work was wonderful. His heart was even better. I will miss him terribly.”
A stream of other public figures also paid tribute to O’Rourke, including CNN’s Jake Tapper who wrote: “What a loss; great guy. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.”
O’Rourke was born in Toledo, Ohio, before moving to Miami for college in the 1960s.
The writer initially described himself as “a leftist anti-war hippie” before undergoing a political re-awakening and becoming a prominent proponent of libertarianism.
Like his contemporary Hunter S. Thompson, O’Rourke was a proponent of “gonzo journalism” — a style of reportage without claims of objectivity, which often includes the journalist as part of the story.
He published 19 books, including his most recent best-seller “Cry from the Far Middle: Dispatches from a Divided Land,” released in 2020.
O’Rourke is survived by his wife, Tina, and their three children.
