A Prehistory Of Standup Shtick: The Founding Fathers

I. Button Gwinnett & "Button's Fly"

II. Caesar Rodney & "Caesar's Salad"

III. Thomas Jefferson & "Tommy's Tuppence"

IV. Carter Braxton & "Carter's Spills"

V. Philip Livingston & "Philip's Screwdriver"

VI. Oliver Wolcott & "Oliver's Twist"

A Prehistory Of Standup Shtick: The Founding Fathers & "Caesar's Salad"

Continental Congressman from Delaware Caesar Rodney was once described by his brother Thomas as possessing "...a great fund of wit and humor...so that his conversation was always bright and strong."
     No surprise, then, when the popular bachelor drew on this gift of gab to entertain fellow revolutionaries by mocking their hated monarch back  in England, George III. 
     The king, already considered by many subjects to be more than several strawberry leaves short of a coronet, was further mocked by Rodney in a brutal monologue parodying the king's speeches to Parliament and his royal communications to the colonies regarding their grievances. The inane ramblings of the regent were only rendered more grotesque by Rodney's delivery of a tsunami of non sequiturs and verbal scraps -- a medley of minced nouns, diced verbs, chopped adjectives and julienned prepositional phrases.    
     Rodney's mimicry of George's ravings soon became known as "Caesar's Salad," and his recitation of this comic routine was often requested during recesses from talks of treason during the hot summer of '76. 
     Rumors that, in fact, the term "Caesar's Salad" was actually a reference to Rodney's disfigured countenance and to the green scarf he habitually wore to disguise this embarrassing feature suffered as a result of a severe facial cancer remain unverified.