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Honorable Mention
These worthy cynics of the past 100 years deserve a nod of acknowledgment in the
Hall of Fame. Some of them are notable curmudgeons of the second rank; others
(like Shaw) are first-rate minds who were too multidimensional to be pigeonholed as cynics. Feel free to suggest additions to the list on the Cynic's Message Board.
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George Bernard Shaw |
(1856-1950) Droll, irreverent Anglo-Irish playwright, wit
and pundit. Arguably the most influential writer of his time.
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Edvard Munch | (1863-1944) Norwegian Expressionist artist whose favorite themes included alienation, anxiety and death.
The Scream.
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Saki
| (H.H. Munro) (1870-1916) British author of
wickedly cynical short stories.
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G.K. Chesterton | (1874-1936)
Whimsical, stout-hearted British essayist and mystery writer with a
commendably sane anti-modernist bias.
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| Will Rogers | (1879-1935)
This wry cowboy humorist lampooned the powerful with his disarming aw-shucks manner and became an American icon.
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Ring Lardner | (1885-1933) U.S. journalist-author who captured popular speech.
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Alexander Woollcott | (1887-1944) Fussy,
corpulent U.S. critic and Algonquin wit.
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Fernando Pessoa | (1888-1935) Portuguese poet and
observer.
The Book of Disquiet.
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George S. Kaufman | (1889-1963) U.S. comedy playwright and Algonquin wit.
The Man Who Came to Dinner.
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George Grosz | (1893-1959) Biting German satirical
artist who gained fame in the decadent '20s.
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Mae West | (1893-1980) Ripe film comedienne who penned her own acerbic lines.
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Fred Allen | (1894-1956) Lovably bemused U.S. radio personality and wit.
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Ben Hecht | (1894-1964) Hard-boiled U.S. playwright and author.
The Front Page.
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Aldous Huxley | (1894-1963) Cerebral
British novelist and essayist.
Brave New World.
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James Thurber | (1894-1961) Delightfully off-center U.S. cartoonist and short-story writer whose drollery concealed a bleak view of life and marriage.
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Rene Magritte | (1898-1967) Belgian surrealist painter who slyly mocked modern bourgeois life.
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Bertolt Brecht | (1898-1956) German Marxist playwright.
Threepenny Opera.
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Vladimir Nabokov | (1899-1977)
Lyrical, subtly mischievous Russian emigré author who dazzled us in
English. Lolita; Pale Fire.
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Kurt Weill | (1900-50) Trenchant German-Jewish songwriter.
Threepenny Opera.
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George Orwell | (1903-50) Immortal British
author-journalist with an incorruptible conscience. 1984; Animal Farm.
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Nathanael West | (1903-40) Darkly satirical U.S. novelist.
Day of the Locust.
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Nancy and Jessica
Mitford | (1904-73 and 1917-96 respectively) Biting upper-crust British authors.
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S.J. Perelman | (1904-79) Impish U.S. humorist and lover of wordplay.
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Oscar Levant | (1906-72) Endearingly morose U.S. pianist and talk-show
raconteur.
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Al Capp | (1909-79) U.S. cartoonist who evolved from a cynical liberal to a cynical conservative.
Li'l Abner.
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Eugene Ionesco | (1910-94) French surrealist playwright with a satirical
bent. The Rhinoceros.
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E. M. Cioran | (1911-95) Melancholy Romanian-French philosopher/essayist.
The Temptation to Exist.
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Mary McCarthy | (1912-89) Brilliant, acerbic U.S. novelist-essayist.
The Group.
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Henry Morgan |
(1915-94) Appealingly cranky U.S. TV personality.
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Roald Dahl | (1916-90) British master of wryly macabre tales -- and a few offbeat children's books.
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Anthony Burgess | (1917-93) Dark-humored British novelist.
A Clockwork Orange.
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Andy Rooney | (1919- ) Curmudgeonly U.S. TV
commentator, still griping valiantly in his 80s.
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J. D. Salinger | (1919- ) Reclusive U.S. author whose celebrated novel,
The Catcher in the Rye, castigated grown-up "phonies" from an adolescent perspective.
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Federico Fellini | (1920-93) Italian cinematic magician with a grotesquely humorous vision of modern life.
La Dolce Vita.
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David Brinkley | (1920-2003) Veteran U.S. TV newsman with the wry delivery.
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Kingsley Amis | (1922-95) Satirical British
novelist and father of Martin Amis. Lucky Jim.
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Blake Edwards | (1922- ) U.S. film director and screenwriter.
10; S.O.B.
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Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. | (1922- ) Prolific U.S. novelist known for his satirical fantasies.
Slaughterhouse Five.
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Joseph Heller | (1923-99) U.S. author whose
Catch-22 remains one of the most cynical novels ever written.
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Paul Fussell | (1924- ) Opinionated U.S. scholar, author, and curmudgeon.
Class.
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Lenny Bruce | (1925-66) Controversial U.S. stand-up comic, rebel and martyr.
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David Levine | (1926- ) Savage, stylish U.S. political and literary caricaturist.
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Mort Sahl | (1927- ) Canadian-born satirical comic popular in the '50s and '60s.
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Paul Johnson | (1928- ) Popular British historian who scoffs at modern art and admires Nixon.
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Jules Feiffer | (1929- ) Shrewdly observant U.S. socio-political cartoonist with a leftish bent.
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John Osborne | (1929-95) British playwright and original "angry young
man."
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Tom Wolfe | (1931- ) Breezy,
satirical U.S. journalist who has emerged as an eloquent anti-modernist.
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Mike Royko | (1932-97) Down-to-earth Chicago columnist who
gained millions of loyal readers by deflating the over inflated.
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Godfrey Cambridge | (1933-76)
Pioneering black U.S. comedian with an urbane
sensibility.
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Calvin Trillin | (1935- ) Wry U.S. author-journalist and
occasional talk-show guest.
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Woody Allen | (1935- ) U.S. filmmaker; a misanthropic romantic with a gift for extracting humor from angst.
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Florence King | (1936- ) Eloquently cantankerous, eminently quotable U.S. conservative essayist.
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George Carlin | (1937- ) Thoughtfully
quirky U.S. stand-up comic, scatologist and perennial hippie.
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Hunter S. Thompson | (1937-2005) Wicked U.S. "gonzo journalist."
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
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John Kennedy Toole | (1937-69) U.S. comic novelist who committed suicide when the publication of his book initially fell through. His mother later had it published to almost universal acclaim.
A Confederacy of Dunces.
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Lily Tomlin | (1939- ) U.S. comic monologist with a tangy sweet-and-sour wit.
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Phil Ochs | (1940-76) Eloquently cynical U.S. folk singer and suicide.
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Richard Pryor | (1940-2005) Uninhibited U.S. comedian and racial observer.
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Frank Zappa | (1940-93) Quotable U.S. rock icon.
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George Will | (1941- ) U.S. conservative journalist, notable for his understated outrage as an essentially 18th-century man marooned in our times.
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Bob Dylan | (1941- ) U.S. folk singer who rasped his contempt for the establishment.
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P.J. O'Rourke | (1946- ) Brash U.S. author-journalist. Edited
National Lampoon.
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Camille Paglia | (1946- ) Highly
visible U.S. scholar, author, columnist and talker who remains refreshingly free of ideology. Sexual Personae.
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Larry David | (1947- ) Creator of two bilious, brilliant U.S.
sitcoms. Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm.
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David Letterman | (1947- ) Innovative, nihilistic U.S. late-night TV host.
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Prince Charles | (1948- ) Whimsical, underappreciated heir to the British throne.
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Garry Trudeau | (1948- ) U.S. cartoonist and cynic with a liberal conscience.
Doonesbury.
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Martin Amis | (1949- ) British novelist; even more cynical than his dad.
London Fields.
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Rick Bayan | (1950- ) (Hey, it's my
website.) U.S. author and columnist. The Cynic's Dictionary.
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Gary Larson | (1950- ) Wonderfully warped,
prematurely retired U.S. cartoonist. The Far Side.
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Fran Lebowitz | (1950- ) U.S. humorist and Jaded Urban Cynic.
Metropolitan Life.
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Joe Queenan | (1950- ) Splenetic U.S. humorist and cultural gadfly. Balsamic
Dreams.
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John Callahan | (1951- ) Paraplegic U.S. cartoonist celebrated for his
poke-in-the-eye brand of humor.
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Eric Bogosian | (1953- ) Hip U.S. satirical playwright and performer.
Talk Radio.
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Dennis Miller | (1953- ) U.S. wise-guy comic who evolved into a sharp-tongued
social critic.
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Matt Groening | (1954- ) Devilishly satirical U.S. cartoonist and animator.
The Simpsons.
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Michael Moore | (1954- ) Opinionated U.S. documentarian,
author and foe of the American power elite.
Roger and Me; Downsize This; Fahrenheit 9/11
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Bill Maher | (1955- ) Straight-shooting host of American TV's
Politically Incorrect.
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Carrie Fisher | (1956- ) Former big-screen princess and pleasingly tart pop-novelist.
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Berke Breathed | (1957- ) Satirically inclined U.S. comic-strip artist.
Bloom County.
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Keenan Ivory Wayans | (1958- ) Versatile African-American TV and film satirist.
In Living Color.
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Bill Hicks | (1961-94) Prematurely dead stand-up comic with a loyal cult
following.
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Jon Stewart | (1962- ) U.S. TV news spoof-anchor who enjoys a larger following
among the young than real TV news anchors.
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Mike Judge | (1963- ) Wacky, tongue-in-cheek U.S. animator.
Beavis and Butt-head. ("CHEEK -- heh, heh." "BUTT -- heh, heh.")
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Aaron McGruder | (1974- ) Sharp young African-American cartoonist and equal-opportunity offender. Boondocks.
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