Mad Man Flips Off Censors at Library

As it makes the transition into the digital age, the is and re-making itself into a home for a wide range of cultural events, from and to .

Mad magazine senior editor Joe Raiola says you can add to that list comedy, especially the kind of comedy that pushes boundaries and takes on censorship. Raiola brings his free one-man show, , to the library Sunday night at 7 p.m.

“I am doing the show at the Mill Valley Public Library that I probably couldn’t do in almost any comedy club in the country nowadays," he says.

That’s primarily because Raiola tackles the issue of censorship and the First Amendment in his show and uses language as a weapon in doing so. The show comes with a caution that “adult language will be used,” but Raiola says library staff haven’t placed any restrictions on Sunday’s show.

“It’s very sad when you think about the fact that the great champions of free speech in this country have always been comedians, from Lenny Bruce and the South Park guys to George Carlin and Richard Pryor," he says. "But now you have someone like Jon Stewart getting censored (for language) every night on Comedy Central.”

Libraries aren’t new terrain for Raiola – he did a 14-show tour of the Northwest two years ago that consisted primarily of libraries. “They let me loose – and that is what comedy clubs do not do anymore.”

There’s no shortage of free speech issues in the news in recent years for Raiola to cover, from Sarah Palin's infamous gun sight map to U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have backed the free speech rights of corporate spending in elections, violent video games and the Westboro Baptist Church’s protests at the funerals of American soldiers.

“These days, everyone’s protected under the First Amendment except comedians,” Raiola said. “And I would actually argue that this court regarding the First Amendment is too liberal. The idea that corporations have the same free speech rights as individuals is a radical liberal position. Are you kidding me? Corporations are people?”

Raiola says he’s proud to be part of Mad magazine, a comedy institution that dates back nearly 60 years.

“The Mad brand of humor is really very American, everything from fart and belching humor to sharp savvy political satire," he says. “We all feel that we work in a great comic tradition that we didn’t invent but that we are carrying on and adding our own voice to it.”

The 411: Joe Raiola’s one-man show, The Joy of Censorship, is at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) in the main reading room of the . Free but open only to those 15 years or older. Registration is recommended. Click here to pre-register for this event.