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Paul Krassner was a published American author, a comedian, journalist, and editor.

Hew as born April 9, 1932, in Brooklyn, New York. As a child he was a prodigy at the violin. At the time he became the youngest individual to play at Carnegie Hall. He played there when he was six years old in 1939.

He was the son of Jewish parents. However, he considered religion to be little more than organized superstition and identified as secular. He would attend Baruch College, part of the City College of New York at the time, majoring in journalism. Around the same time, he began doing comedy performances under the stage name of Paul Maul.

While in college he worked for The Independent, which was an anti-censorship paper. He began working there on a full time basis once he left college, noting that he didn’t have a regular job where he was interviewed or had to adhere to a dress code. He became managing editor for the paper while also writing on a freelance basis for Mad Magazine. It was for a younger audience and not adults, which eventually drew him to write for The Realist, a free thought magazine that combined alternative journalism and satire.

In 1967, he founded the Youth International Party. The people that made up this group were known as Yippies. He was also involved in the Merry Pranksters founded by Ken Kesey, which practiced activism with a prankster angle. Paul was a protege of Lenny Bruce, a comedian, and edited his autobiography. Bruce encouraged him in his comedy and Paul began doing standup in New York in 1961 as a result. Bruce would pass away in 1966.

The Realist continued to be published regularly during the sixties. Krassner helped to publish a controversial poster involving Disneyland that was illustrated by artist Wall Wood. The black and white poster was also available in a different version of digital color. He also published a poster that contained a slogan against Communism and put copies that came to customers with their Realist issue. One was even mailed to J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, with a note saying that it was hoped that he enjoyed it. Krassner also hoped that he could get a publicity arrest for sending material in the mail that was obscene, but no prosecution came from it.

The Realist reprinted an academic journal excerpt in 1966 but framed as new material they had come up with themselves. The journal was the Journal of the AMA (American Medical Association) and dealt with foreign items that had been discovered inside of patients. Some thought that the excerpt was off-color and repellent. Later, during the eighties, Paul would bring The Realist back as a small newsletter. The last issue to come out from the magazine was released in 2001.

Krassner wrote a lot. In 1971 he would have his favorite collected works published for The Realist. A decade later, he would come out with Tales of Tongue Fu. He would also publish an autobiography in 1994 titled Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut. He has also released a collection of essays in Who’s to Say What’s Obscene?, and three different drug story collections. 1999 saw Pot Stories for the Soul about cannabis, 2001 was when Psychedelic Trips for the Mind came out, and Magic Mushrooms and Other Highs was published in 2004.

Krassner has had many memorable moments throughout the course of his life. He signed a pledge with writers and editors in 1968 to refuse paying taxes to protest the Vietnam War. He would contribute to men’s magazines such as Playboy. He was given a thousand dollar salary a month to compose a column each month for Cavalier. He was a radio personality and DJ in 1971 for KSFX in 1971.

Krassner was even featured in the movie The Aristocrats, a documentary from 2005. He was a lecturer and speaker, speaking many times at the Starwood Festival and WinterStar Symposium. He was featured in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in an exhibit in 1998. He also served as a writer for High Times Magazine, AVN Online, and The Nation. He wrote blogs for The Rag Blog and The Huffington Post. He also wrote on topics such as Patty Hearst’s Trial and connections between the FBI and Symbionese Liberation Army. He was featured in Up Your Legs Forever, a film in 1971 by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Cass Elliot also had wanted him to write liner notes for a new album.

He has gotten awards from Playboy magazine and for his journalism from Feminist Party Media Workshop. He was also inducted into a Counterculture Hall of Fame in Amsterdam, the first living person to receive that honor. He got an Upton Sinclair Award from the ACLU for his freedom of expression. The FBI described him as a “raving, unconfined nut”, and comedian George Carlin agreed, adding that he was both ‘funny’ and ‘necessary’ as well. He got a nomination at the Grammy Awards in 2005 for best album notes on a Lenny Bruce CD.

He met his wife in 1985, Nancy Cain, an artist and a videographer. They lived in Desert Hot Springs in California as of 2002. He also had a daughter from a marriage before. Paul had a neurological disease he had been suffering from. He passed away July 21, 2019. He was 87 years old. A 2018 movie based on his work came out called The Last of the Manson Girls.

Tales of Tongue Fu first was published in 1981. It was partly a satirical send up of what had become the New Age movement and partially a fictional and comedic narrative.

Full of social commentary and misadventures, the main character of the book is named Tongue Fu. He comes from a father that is a kamikaze pilot and a mother that is radioactive. he evolves into a guru with a long tongue that he employs for martial arts.

Along his journey, he meets various people. This includes a mute Baba Blabla and an activist named Rosebud that has joined a cult. Full of satire and humor, this is an entertaining book that you have to read to believe.

Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut by Paul Krassner was published in 1994. This autobiography is sure to shock. From a parody of a book featuring Kennedy by William Manchester to thoughts on the seventies and eighties, this book is a picture of the author’s life.