Notable Nobs Not Unpleasant To Know: Letters K & L

In his nonsense verse “How pleasant to know Mr. Lear,” the popularizer of the limerick makes amusing obsservations about himself. Below readers are urged to discover some equally intriguing characters who, it’s hoped, will prove as well “Not unpleasant to know.”

    Not un-
pleasant to know: Mr. Kovacs,*  
    tele-
pioneer, comique con brio,
     who be-
queathes us his droll treasure trove -- acts 
     like Nai-
robi's tres-animate trio. 
     "SN-
L"ers? The Pythons? All throwbacks
     to Ra-
gout, Percy Dovetonsils, Gruesome --
     "ak-
a"s of a plupleasant Kovacs:
    why don't 
you -- au review -- deja vu some!
     * Ernie Kovacs

     Not-un-
pleasant-to-know Mr. Kharms* 
     scribbles 
kid lit (though not keen on kids)
     under 
pen names like DanDan and Charms.
     It’s the 
Thirties: his life's on the skids. 
    Forty-
one sees the Russky gendarmes
     appre-
hend him. He dies in his cell, 
     does the 
pleasant-to-know Mr. Kharms.
     (So did 
Sergei Magnitsky? Oh, well…) 
     * Daniil Kharms

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Mr. Kelly,
     proso-
pography's politics pro. (Go
     to New 
O’le'ns, New York or New Delhi:
     you'll not 
spot one from whom satires flow so). 
     Stinging, 
shocking -- like Machiavelli, 
     as our 
bros E. A. Poe and Thoreau know.
     King of 
Mock'ry? Cartoonist Walt Kelly.
     D'ya like 
prose? You’ll love those who "go Pogo!" 
     * Walt Kelly

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Mr. Leacock.
     Stephen's 
Novels dubb'd Nonsense? Hilarious! 
     (The man's 
surname's pronounced as is 'peacock'
     while his 
humor's nowt short of nefarious.) 
     It’s but 
work of a moment to see: cock-
     -an'-
bull tales from Stephen's gregarious
     Number
2 are the best -- as is Leacock: 
     plies his 
pen like a '10** Stradivarius. 
     * Stephen Leacock 
     ** The 1710 Strad referenced could be any of four extant instruments. It rates, as well, a perfect ten on the string scale.

     Not un- 
pleasant to know: Mr. Lennon,* 
     who pro- 
claimed, "We're more famous than Jesus!"
     (he in- 
cluded the three other men in
     his small 
band). But he did so to tease us,
     and to 
flog the new book he'd been pennin' 
     [Note to 
self: Always draw an advance.]
     titled 
In His Own Write By John Lennon.
     (His ti-
reurs never gave peace a chance.
     * John Lennon

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Mr. Lem,* 
     he whose 
works include Pirx and Solaris.
     Never 
panned for a pleth'ra of phlegm,
     Stan's ap-
plauded from Patna to Paris.
     Though un-
worthy to finger the hem
     of this 
man's pantaloons -- 'twould embarrass --
     I find 
pleasant-to-know Mr. Lem 
     a bro 
"-matic" (of course I mean "charis-").
      * Stanislaw Lem