Guests got a special treat Tuesday night at the Helium Comedy Club in Philadelphia, where former Sen. Arlen Specter took the stage during an open-mic night and left the audience in stitches, spending most of his three minutes doing jokes about prominent political figures.
“I’ve been in comedy now for 30 years — the only difference is that it’s not stand-up. We all have comfortable chairs,” he told the audience, according to a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer, which noted that the senator’s jokes resonated with both Democrats and Republicans in the audience, many of whom were young enough to be his grandchildren. As someone who switched from the Republican to the Democratic party in 2009, his humor was decidedly non-partisan, taking swipes at everyone including Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, Ed Rendell and others.
Specter, 81, seems like he’s found a new home on-stage, saying he finds comedy “elevating” and that he wanted to “try it out,” but this isn’t the first time he’s performed. He made headlines in 2007 after placing second in the 14th annual “Funniest Celebrity in Washington” contest, with his self-described “clean, questionable and highly, highly questionable” jokes, a few of which he recycled for Tuesday night’s performance. He also raised some more eyebrows in 2008 when he cracked a few tasteless Polish jokes at the Rainbow Room in New York during an annual meeting of the Commonwealth Club. And in 2009, Specter cracked jokes about Viagra, Town Hall meetings and Sarah Palin at the Pittsburgh Improv to benefit the Allegheny county’s Music Festival Fund for children.
