David Foster “The Humor of American Politics,”

David Foster Returns to Camden Library August 21

“The Humor of American Politics,” Created and Performed by David Foster

What’s so funny about our beloved political system? David Foster returns to the Camden Public Library at 7:00 pm on August 21 to answer that question with his latest one-man show, “The Humor of American Politics.” Drawing on the work of Benjamin Franklin, Abigail Adams, Mark Twain, H. L. Mencken, William F. Buckley, Jr., Mollie Ivins, E.B. White, Dave Barry, and a host of others, he demonstrates his thesis that humor is the enduring strength of the Republic and has been since its earliest days. This is a show designed to make you smile, giggle, and laugh out loud and even bring a new appreciation for the role of laughter in a democracy. Whether you’re a liberal, conservative, or something else, this is a sure cure for an overdose of election year rhetoric.

David Foster is a retired lawyer, business executive, and Washington lobbyist, better known in recent years as an actor and entertainer. His one-man shows have been performed from Maryland to Maine in what he calls “stand-up comedy for thinking Americans.” This is his sixth appearance at the Camden Library, following standing-room-only performances of “The Magic of American Humor,” “Meet Mr. Mencken: An Hour with the Sage of Baltimore,” “The Irreplaceable Mark Twain: His Humor and His Legacy,” “Thurber Theatre: An Hour with the Inscrutable Male,” and “E.B. White: From Manhattan to Maine.” He lives in Oxford, Maryland, and spends summers here, where he often entertains Road Scholar tour groups.

From his experience as a political representative, Foster has found that “democracy is an impossibly messy, unpredictable political system, producing dubious candidates and encouraging corruption at every turn, threatening always to swerve into absolutism or anarchy, and yet, somehow surviving.” He claims that it is only the American sense of humor that has guaranteed this surprising longevity.