The following mini-interview was conducted by Bruce Fessier for my local daily, the Desert Sun, in connection with the publication of One Hand Jerking: Reports From an Investigative Satirist.

Q. The title sounds so philosophical. Is it Zen?

A. Why, yes indeed, but there's an answer to the partial koan in that title: The sound of one hand jerking is laughter.

Q. Lewis Black says he's been a fan of yours since he was a snot-nosed kid, which must have been back when George Gobel was considered irreverent. Do you find it easier or harder to be a senior investigative satirist?

A. Funny you should mention George Gobel. He was my first comedic role model (soft-spoken and original) before I met Lenny Bruce (philosophical and incisive). Anyway, what makes satire more challenging now is that reality has been nipping at its heels and has finally surpassed it. It wasn't me, it was creationists who came up with the notion that there was a pair of dinosaurs on Noah's Ark.

Q. You came up in the business when your mentor, Lyle Stuart, was helping to bring Walter Winchell down from his perch as the most powerful columnist ever. Did that experience inspire you to want to chop away at people of power?

A. Yeah, combined with my simultaneous experience at Mad magazine, where I learned how to use humor as a vehicle rather than an ax as a tool.

Q. But seriously, you write quite a bit about body parts. What do you think is the funniest body part?

A. Oh, the brain. It's awesomely absurd. My brain can witness and interpret and influence all my other funny body parts as well as itself.

Q. You write of dressing up as a devil at the Desert Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce installation dinner where they changed their motto from "People, Pride and Progress" to "Clearly Above the Rest" and utilized a "heaven" theme. Do you think your presence at such an official function as a representative of the Dark Prince could explain your City Council's recent ungodly generosity with its former city manager?

A. I resent being everybody's scapegoat --" The devil made me do it, therefore I don't have to take responsibility" -- I'm telling you, it ain't easy being the personification of evil, especially when 25% of Americans believe that you actually exist. The government of Desert Hot Springs is a microcosm of the federal government. In Washington, they're concerned about too many immigrants; here they're concerned about too many parolees. In DHS we had Applicant A for city manager (he came on like a failed motivational speaker), and in DC they have Official A for unindicted conspirator (Karl Rove's brain is even funnier than mine). Our national motto is "The Devil With Accountability." From the desert to the White House, there are so many asses being covered, it looks like a Christo art project.