Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2008/03/04/kelly_81_made_montgomery_fellow.php
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The fourth of February ushered amiable winter weather and an innocuous, intelligent, charismatic man of comedy, Mr. Steve Kelley ’81. Mr. Kelley, one of this terms Montgomery Fellows is a humorist and political cartoonist for the Times-Picayune. Mr. Kelley is also notable as one of the founders of The Dartmouth Review, which he stated put him at interminable odds with the administration. Up for a hearty laugh, feeling the hefty rock-pile of midterms, I sauntered across the green, fetched a drink from the Hop and rolled into the intimate yet darkened Moore Theater.
Mr. Kelley began with a monologue unrelated to his work that effectively and humorously painted a self-portrait ripe with the ability to see humor in the everyday and seemingly mundane. Neither remiss was witty self-deprecation, even poking fun at his privileged upbringing and preppy education.
Mr. Kelley portrayed himself as a winsome wise-aker with a sardonic, schräg gelegen wit. One particularly amusing anecdote involved Mr. Kelley waiting in line for coffee and repeating an unusual Asian name, said ahead of him, to a Starbuck’s employee. “The best part was her reaction, though,” he added, imitating her facial expression. “That is such a coincidence!” Mr. Kelley also offered many slides of Tonight Show-esque solicitation fallacies, as well as the much-loved examples of idiocy in administrative America. One worth citing, specifically, was a photo of a sign stipulating store hours that read, “Monday: 10:00am-5:00pm/Tuesday: 10:00am-5:00pm/Wednesday 10:00am-5:00pm/ Thursday: 10:00am-5:00pm/Friday: 10:00am-5:00pm/Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm/Sunday: Closed.”
Most poignant and interesting, however, was the humor that embodied his art, especially his political pieces. His mantra, seemingly, was a desire to “say what everyone else is thinking” when they’re afraid to say it. “That is a cartoonist’s job,” he affirmed. What seemed to strike audience members, particularly this writer, was Kelley’s ability to poke fun at just about every facet of the political spectrum. There were cartoons about gay marriage, immigration, the economy, Clintons, Kennedy’s and even our fearless, fallible leader, George W. Bush. There was a sense of universality to Mr. Kelley’s satire: “Some of these might offend you, and the next one will offend the guy sitting next to you.”
Worth noting, however, was the particular offense that many drew to the Ted Kennedy cartoons, which in at least two cases alluded to his devastating and reprehensible involvement in the Chappaquiddick incident. Hoping to exchange some words with him after his presentation, I waited amid a small group for the chance to introduce myself, only to experience some odd frustration at the complaints and challenges many brought to this issue. One woman, in particular, was so worked up that she seemed on the verge of tears. Her argument for Kennedy’s alleged innocence included many of the hackneyed, usual holes, with which we are all familiar. The woman pathetically tried to support a claim that Senator Kennedy had no knowledge that Miss Lyons was even in his vehicle and that she was sitting in the back seat. Mr. Kelley, however, did not miss a beat, refuting the statement by evidencing the official affidavit submitted by Kennedy, himself, and countering any further repudiation by asking rhetorically, “Why, then, did the Kennedy family pay the Lyons family off?” In spite of the woman’s hassling, Mr. Kelley remained a gentleman, adding, “I’m so sorry if that offended you.” His concluding remarks about his art clearly eluded the likes of this perhaps symbolic challenger. “Ultimately” he averred, “we’re not attacking people, but philosophies and ideas. We vote for something because we believe in the idea it represents.” Clearly Mr. Kelley opposed the idea of someone getting off scot-free for a crime that was truly opprobrious because of a name or title; yet he also opposed the idea of an incompetent being elected to the White House for the same reasons. Mr. Kelley’s humor might have required a grain of salt for some, but ultimately it was well balanced and ingenuous.
The Montgomery Fellow ended with a cartoon that was interestingly proscribed from publication. After taking a vote, in which he asked the audience if there was anyone who did not want to see the cartoon that had been banned, he quipped, “To this day, not a single person has said Nay.” The cartoon was conceived during the sex scandals of the Clinton administration and offered a witty, however sophomoric, fellatio joke about Ken Starr. The exclusion of the cartoon was a fitting reminder of the inconsistencies in the world of “free speech.” Clearly such a cartoon would be a harbinger for great controversy and the editors shied from such an envelope, despite its perhaps warranted message and opposition “to an idea.” There was a sense that Mr. Kelley faced many frustrating battles with editors and this was one of his chief, if not only, complaints about his line of work. “You’re putting yourself out there for people to judge you. . .that can be very hard.” Yet, ultimately he remains a man of wit, character and talent who is comfortable in an amusing and rewarding career. n