Tim Slagle

Tim Slagle (born 13 August, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian, writer/editor and a political pundit. His material leans towards political satire, and he has the reputation of being one of the edgiest comics working todayFact|date=June 2008. He is known for his regular contributions to "Liberty" Magazine , where his reflections on the days events are a popular featureFact|date=June 2008 of the magazine. He currently lives in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Slagle was born in Detroit, Michigan, and adopted by a middle-class family, living in the blue collar area of South Suburban Detroit known as Downriver. He was raised in Trenton, Michigan, graduating from Trenton High School in 1976. He briefly attended the University of Michigan, and eventually dropped out without a degree in 1979 to become a fringe part of the Detroit Punk scene in the band Boris Savage and the Primates. His career was extremely short since he is completely tone deaf, and was much more adept at breaking instruments, than playing themFact|date=June 2008.

In 1979 he started performing at the open mike nights at Mark Ridleys Comedy Castle in north suburban Detroit. As stand-up comedy clubs exploded around the country during the comedy boom of the 1980s, there were plenty of venues looking for comics, and by 1983, Slagle was traveling the country as a professional comic. After three years of living on the road, he settled in Chicago, where he became a regular in the Zanies chain of comedy clubs.

Slagle's style of comedy is observational and often ironic. He often illustrates the contradictions inherent in politics and the duality of political correctness. He likes to point out that political correctness is never applied across the board, and that politicians seem to bend science in order to fit their policies. He gets incredulous at some of the obvious double standards that seem to exist without comment.

Examples

(On hate crimes) If you kill someone because you hate them, that's a lot worse, than if you just kill them. You know, like if you're robbing them or something, That's not personal, it's just business.

If you're talking about something like candy or cake, isn't a "Hunk" the same thing as a "Piece?" But not so with humans. "People Magazine" has no problem calling Brad Pitt, "The Hunk of the Year," but they wouldn't dream of calling Angelina Jolie, "The Best Piece of 2003."

I don't understand vegetarians. I don't understand what they feed their cats. And they all have cats. Isn't it strange that a person would go through their entire life saying, "Well, I don't think an animal should ever have to die just so I can eat... but Mr.Mistoffelees loves his giblets!"

In 1989, Slagle first appeared nationally on the "Showtime Comedy Club Network", and again in 1991 on the "MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour". cite news | last =| first =| coauthors=| title =The Advocates, Libertarian Celebrities| pages=| publisher =| date = | url =http://www.theadvocates.org/celebs/Slagle.html| accessdate =]

In 1996, he appeared on-stage in a small theater in Chicago, with comedian Tom Naughton in the "Slagle Naughton Report".

In 2000 he also produced and starred in a brief run on local Minneapolis television show: "The Mudslingers Ball", with Lewis Black, Will Durst, Jeffrey Jena, and host Mike Lukas. It aired on KSTP channel 5, an ABC affiliate. cite news | last =| first =| coauthors=| title =Voting's down, but political humor is up| pages=| publisher =| date =2000-08-09 | url =http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/09/election.tv.ap/index.html| accessdate =]

He was interviewed and appeared briefly in the independent documentary "Michael Moore Hates America" (2004) cite news | last =| first =| coauthors=| title =Review:Michael Moore Hates America| pages=| publisher =| date =2004-10-25 | url =http://www.filmfodder.com/movies/reviews/michael_moore_hates_america/20041025.htm| accessdate =]

In late 2006, Slagle released his first CD, entitled "Europa" on Stand Up! Records. The CD is notable as a best of from Slagle's career and also features a cover by noted illustrator Jack Davis.

Slagle describes himself as right-wing, although the Libertarian Party claims him as their own. His politics seem right in line with the Libertarian platform, and although he occasionally appears at Republican political functions, he has never disowned his affiliation with the Libertarians.

Influences: Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Irwin Corey, Sam Kinison

Media releases

CDs

* "Europa" (2006) Stand Up! Records

VHS Tapes

* "Awake" (1993)
* "Nation of Criminals" (1998)
* "Live" (2000)

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.timslagle.com/ Tim Slagle's website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/timslagle MySpace page]