TV Political Satirist and Author Mo Rocca at DePauw October 4

September 27, 2004

September 27, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - "Mo Rocca is everywhere," writes the Times-Picayune of New Orleans. On Monday evening, October 4, Rocca -- former senior political correspondent for Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart, current contributor to NBC's Today show and host of Bravo's upcoming Things I Hate About You -- will be on the DePauw University campus for a 9 p.m. presentation in the Performing Arts Center's Kresge Auditorium. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased in the Student Life Office (room 100 of the Memorial Student Union Building).

Mo Rocca is known for his wacky, tongue-in-cheek news reports and hilarious commentary. "Indecision 2000," The Daily Show's coverage of the 2000 presidential race, garnered a Peabody Award. Rocca is also regularly seen on VH1's "Best Week Ever" pop culture roundup and on the series' I Love the 70s, I Love the 80s and I Love the 90s. "He is the Thinking Man for the South Park generation," the Times-Picayune notes. "His specialty -- other than his trademark fashionable eyewear -- is the quick analysis of anything from the Cold War to the Partridge Family to Patty Hearst to Twisted Sister."

Tomorrow, Rocca will release a new book, All the Presidents' Pets, "a satirical tour de force of investigative journalism that blows the lid off a long-held secret in Washington: the presidents' pets are more than just photo ops," the publisher states. From George Washington's donkey, Royal Gift, to Rutherford B. Hayes' Siamese cat, Miss Pussy, to Jack Kennedy's Welsh Terrier, Charlie, the true stories of our nation's First Pets are woven into a nail-biting potboiler... It's All The President's Men meets Charlotte's Web" (read more here).

Publisher's Weekly calls the book, "a wacky satire on Washington and the media, with particular barbed attention paid to FOX News. With ironically deadpan innocence, Rocca uncovers the top-secret history of a pact between presidents and their pets, who are 'bound by the indispensable 'Sacred Animal' component of proper decision-making'... The mating of Kennedy's terrier, Charlie, with Pushinka, a canine gift from Khrushchev, averted the Cuban missile crisis. Johnson's dog Him predicted the quagmire of Vietnam, although Johnson ignored the advice. Funniest of all is a 1798 town square Crossfire on the Alien and Sedition Act between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, moderated by bulldog Toddy and sheepdog Buzzy, in which the politicians hurl personal insults at each other while the dogs do their best to maintain rational thinking and civility. The book's peculiarly postmodern blending of fact and fantasy make it hard to tell jokes from mere ironic truths."

The former president and writer of Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals, Rocca began his career in TV as a writer and producer for the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning PBS children's series Wishbone. Rocca went on to write and produce for other kids series, including ABC's Pepper Ann and Nickelodeon's The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. He served as consulting editor at the men's magazine Perfect 10. On The Daily Show, he profiled eccentrics ranging from a man so obsessed with First Ladies that he dresses up as Florence Harding (wife of Warren) to a husband and wife pet mummification team.

The ubiquitous Rocca is also a commentator for CNN, FOX News Channel, and a regular panelist on NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Mo Rocca's DePauw appearance is sponsored by Union Board. For information, call (765) 658-4850.

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