Pat Paulsen For President

Pat Paulsen For President from The Hammer Works on Vimeo.

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Vimeo from The Hammer Works 3 years ago

Patrick Layton “Pat” Paulsen (July 6, 1927 – April 24, 1997) was an American comedian and satirist notable for his roles on several of the Smothers Brothers TV shows, and for his campaigns for President of the United States in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1988, 1992, and 1996, which had primarily comedic rather than political objectives, although his campaigns generated some protest votes for him.

Early life and education

Paulsen was born in South Bend, Washington, a small fishing town in Pacific County. He was the son of Beulah Inez (née Fadden) and Norman Inge Paulsen, a Norwegian immigrant who worked for the Coast Guard. When he was 10, the family moved to California. After graduating from Tamalpais High School, in Mill Valley in May 1945, Paulsen immediately joined the United States Marines. World War II was still being waged at that time, but it ended before he was shipped overseas. However, he did see overseas duty, including guarding captured Japanese soldiers during their repatriation. He returned home after the war and worked as a posting clerk, a truck driver, a hod carrier, a Fuller Brush salesman, and as a gypsum miner. Later, he was employed as a photostat operator for several years. After attending San Francisco City College, Paulsen joined an acting group called “The Ric-y-tic Players” and formed a comedy trio which included his brother Lorin.

Career in comedy

Paulsen went on to become a single act appearing as a comedic guitarist in various clubs on the west coast and in New York City. During one of his appearances in San Francisco, he met the Smothers Brothers.
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour premiered in 1967. Paulsen said he was hired because he sold them cheap songs and would run errands. At first he was cast as their editorialist, and his deadpan, double-talk comments on the issues of the day propelled him into the national consciousness. (His deadpan work was nearly flawless: on one isolated occasion, in a talk about Hawaii, he defined a “wahine” as something you put on a bu-hun with lots of mu-hustard. His composure started to crack, but he recovered.) His work on The Smothers Brothers’ Comedy Hour earned Paulsen an Emmy in 1968.

Early in 1970, Paulsen headlined his own series, Pat Paulsen’s Half a Comedy Hour, which ran 13 weeks on ABC. Guests on the first show were former US Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and an animated Daffy Duck, whom Paulsen interviewed.

The comedian was approached by the Smothers Brothers with the idea of running for President in 1968. His reply, he was later to recount, was: “Why not? I can’t dance – besides, the job has a good pension plan and I’ll get a lot of money when I retire.”

In addition to his work with the Smothers Brothers, Paulsen made a memorable guest appearance on The Monkees, appearing in the 1967 episode “Monkees Watch Their Feet”, playing the secretary of National Defense.