Royko At His Best

Some of the newspaper columns written by Mike Royko are reenacted, parodied, and read live on stage!

0:33Copy video clip URL The footage begins.

0:40Copy video clip URL The first character of the program can be seen standing under a lamppost at night by a newspaper stand. 

0:58Copy video clip URL The same unnamed character mentions a man named “Mike Royko”. 

1:09Copy video clip URL We see Royko at work as a reporter and columnist for the “Chicago Daily News”. 

1:28Copy video clip URL The first character (now the narrator of the program) tells us that Royko’s columns are featured in newspapers across the US. 

1:39Copy video clip URL Royko is shown to be wearing a Mickey Mouse watch. 

1:55Copy video clip URL Photographic stills show Royko walking along the sidewalks and alleyways of Chicago. 

2:01Copy video clip URL The narrator mentions that Royce’s “natural habitat” is the “beer parlor/pool hall”. 

2:15Copy video clip URL Some of Royko’s readers are shown commenting on his columns – and his responses to them. 

4:19Copy video clip URL The narrator states the name of the program. 

4:23Copy video clip URL A title card for the program appears – and the setting that the narrator was in is revealed to have been a stage.

4:41Copy video clip URL A new narrator is introduced. 

5:05Copy video clip URL The narrator reads from a “Vogue” Magazine page.

5:50Copy video clip URL The “Chicago slang meaning of “clout” is discussed. 

6:58Copy video clip URL The narrator reenacts a call he had with “Vogue” staff. 

8:46Copy video clip URL The narrator states that New York (NYC) “stole” the word “clout” from Chicago. 

9:10Copy video clip URL The original narrator is reintroduced. 

9:35Copy video clip URL A parody interview with a Chicago baseball player is shown. 

10:45Copy video clip URL A skit parodying hippies is shown.

13:35Copy video clip URL Yet another narrator is introduced. 

14:06Copy video clip URL A parody interview between a street gang leader and a reporter is shown.

16:35Copy video clip URL The original narrator is reintroduced. 

17:00Copy video clip URL A man who once came face to face with “Bonnie and Clyde” is introduced. 

17:42Copy video clip URL Russel Byrnes, an American Korean War Veteran turned Attorney in New Mexico, is introduced. 

18:32Copy video clip URL Another man who came into contact with Bonnie and Clyde is introduced. 

19:59Copy video clip URL One of the men tells the audience how Bonnie and Clyde gunned down his father, a Constable. 

23:27Copy video clip URL A new, female narrator, is introduced. 

23:36Copy video clip URL The narrator discusses how an Alderman in Chicago proposed a sustained investigation into books that were being read by students in certain literature classes at a local junior college. 

24:32Copy video clip URL A parody skit of the investigation is shown.

26:59Copy video clip URL The original narrator is reintroduced. 

28:22Copy video clip URL A woman finishes a story about a Black Vietnam War Marine Corps Veteran who was killed in action. 

28:51Copy video clip URL The mother of the deceased Marine is introduced. 

32:33Copy video clip URL The original narrator is reintroduced. 

32:53Copy video clip URL A parody skit involving a time machine is shown.

36:36Copy video clip URL A new narrator is introduced. 

37:22Copy video clip URL A parody skit of marriage in the 1960’s is shown.

39:19Copy video clip URL The original narrator is reintroduced. 

39:33Copy video clip URL A parody skit set in a bar is shown.

41:25Copy video clip URL A recital of a Carl Sandberg poem about Chicago is shown. 

43:16Copy video clip URL One of the other narrators is introduced. 

43:31Copy video clip URL A few Chicagoans talk about their neighborhood. 

45:28Copy video clip URL A reenactment of protesters holding signs against school integration is shown. 

49:42Copy video clip URL The original narrator is reintroduced. 

50:24Copy video clip URL Letters to Royko from readers are read aloud.