Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr. "The Hippies"

Theater of the absurd
In this episode, you have Ed Sanders and Lewis Yablonski giving intelligent and insightful answers while -- and this is no joke -- Jack Kerouac, who died from alcoholism a short time later, seems to be suffering from delirium tremens. Kerouac struggles mightily to compose a lucid moment or two, but much of the time, he is trembling, making spastic movements and interrupting with comments that are complete non sequiturs. What's amazing is how Buckley manages to orchestrate the proceedings. He almost seems to relish the challenge of incorporating the wayward Kerouac in the presentation. It is bizarre, something rarely seen on TV, borders on absurdist comedy, but will be sad for fans of the man to see a bloated Kerouac, face ravaged from alcohol abuse, in the final throws of his struggle.

Firing Line, the SNL episode
This early, color episode of Firing Line, dedicated to the topic "hippies," is one of the odder things I've seen. I'd never had exposure to Jack Kerouac before, and had never heard of Ed Sanders. Sanders is an articulate man, Yablonski a sociologist, and Kerouac a wacked-out something or other. Although Buckley starts out the program in his typical analytic fashion, trying to establish common terms for debate, the program never really goes anywhere. Yablonski tries to answer questions from his research experience, while Sanders pushes his own "peace" agenda, and Kerouac is either stoned or drunk. Who hippies are is never quite pinned down, not to mention any other questions, such as the future of American society under their influence. Instead we get sort of a farce of Firing Line, and I wouldn't be surprised if Buckley intended this, letting Americans see Sanders and Kerouac for themselves rather than characterizing them second-hand. Kerouac won't either be quiet or engage...

Nutty, Nonsensical Nostalgia
The scene is set. It is 1968. The Vietnam War is at its zenith. Hippies proliferate. Why are they here and what do they want and will they take over the land or die out like dinosaurs? Arch conservative William F. Buckley Jr. is hosting - ringmastering is more like it! - a fifty minute interview with some serious competition for the Three Stooges. Buckley, at his smarmy best, uncoils like a well-suited sleepy snake and actually tongue-stumbles probably on devious purpose and gets by in introducing King of the Beats Jack Kerouac as "Jerk..Jack Kerouac." You have to hear it to believe it. It is NO slip. Silver-tongued Buckley is too shrewd to ever slip - unless it was because of the fork in his tongue. Kerouac is King of the Boozers during this panel...I was going to say "discussion" but it really cannot be termed as such. The whole fifty minutes seems more like sitting around the diner after a night on the town with a few friends and drinking coffee to end an exhaustive...

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