But Texas came in second, and that should provide fodder for the audience that receives Mr. Maher when he comes here for a night of politically charged and culturally incisive stand-up.
Is this really what literature has come to, that we need to play up to a culture that clearly has little use for us, that we should embrace all the orthodoxies of class, of commerciality, that writing, at its most incisive, stands against?
It is a talent few possess, and the results are incisive pictures that stand the test of time.
You own Nascar... .. Lewis Black, seen weekly on The Daily Show, is a most incisive and outspoken stand-up comic, but when he performed at the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner, he found himself sitting next to Dick Cheney, one of his favorite targets.
Both Philip Gourevitch's account of the reopening of a long-dormant murder case and Dominick Dunne's wickedly incisive investigative pieces easily stand up to a second look.
Of course, in the swamp of my past folly, I've found the occasional joke that makes me chuckle—"Bush did 9/11?? God, mediocre white men get credit for EVERYTHING!" for example—and glimmers of incisive analysis that I still stand by.
The Americans are witty, incisive, deeply serious; in one marvellous scene, Zelnick stands in for Nixon as they test various scenarios.
Hughes is incisive, but never contemptuous or dismissive; often her characters stand at the edge of chaos — a revolution, a scene of violence, the pit where the twin towers used to be — uncertain of their responsibility but never inured to the pain of others.
Looking back over the 11 months since Trump launched his campaign, that Kelly tit-for-tat over his attitude towards women stands out as one of the most incisive exchanges between the billionaire and a broadcaster.
But on a show dedicated to fantasy journalism, Sorkin's stand-in doesn't lobby for more incisive coverage of sexual violence or for a responsible way to tell graphic stories without getting off on the horrible details or for innovative investigations that could pressure a corrupt, ass-covering system to do better.
PEN is not giving Charlie Hebdo the "We Like Your Cartoons" award, or the "Most Incisive Social Commentary" award or the "We Agree with Everything You Stand For" award.
