040 - Strip Tees No. 5: "A Political Shirt Show"
Spilling the tee over afternoon tee at my appointed tee time
Strip Tees is a recurring series in which I write about t-shirts I like Shall I tell you about my friend Perry?
Perry Shall is one of those, cómo se dice, SUPER TALENTED DUDES who also happens to be one them, whatchamacallits, SUPER NICE GUYS who I’m, what’s the best way to say it, SUPER GRATEFUL TO CALL MY FRIEND.
We met about a decade ago thanks to The Best Show with Tom Scharpling, an independent call-in radio show that at the time broadcast from WFMU in New Jersey (TBS will be getting its own exegesis in this here ‘stack someday soon). Perry and I were both (and still are) huge fans of Tom and his show which has a cult following among the type of people who like to think, “We get it; they don’t,” but unlike me who was too chicken back then to ever call the program, Perry was an on-air semi-regular.
Perry must have mentioned in one of his appearances that he had been featured in a short doc about his vintage t-shirt collection. I watched the video and instantly felt a kindred connection with this combination Wayne-Garth: his passion for thrifting, his OCD in neatly folding, his OCD in checking every shirt on the rack (and his experience of “thrifter’s elbow” that ensues), his fantasy of being buried with his thousands of tees… in Perry, I saw a far-cooler, fully-tatted, Phillyfied version of myself. And when I found out he was also MISHPOCHA??? L’chaim!
I visited him in Philly. I saw his collection in person. We hit the thrifts. We got cheese steaks and vegan donuts. We continued talking and texting and sending each other photos of our finds. We’ve gifted each other numerous garments to fill out our PCs. Considering his day job as one of indie rock’s leading album cover artists and graphic designers, I’ve relied on Perry as my go-to logo guy. He’s responsible for both the Quiz Daddy’s branding and the Rocko’s Modern Life flip that graces this website. He’s not simply a man; he’s the man.
But Perry is more than an inveterate collector, a gifted (and Grammy-nominated) draftsman and illustrator, and a comedy connoisseur, he’s also… A FILMMAKER??
During Passover 2019, Perry and his pal Bob Sweeney visited my NYC apartment to tape an episode of a what — six years later — has finally been released as T-TIME: A REAL SHIRT SHOW, now streaming @PerryShall.
That “shirt show” pun… chef’s kiss. It got me thinking about the “shit show” that is our current state of global affairs in this brave new AI-generated, crypto-capitalist, big tariffic world. And when I say “current,” I really mean “eternal,” for the political arena has forever been a cesspool; a low-rent wrestling event packed to the rafters with the ignorant masses cheering their man and jeering his opponent, while the candidates bob and weave in the ring, flaunting their credits and taunting the crowds on their way to collecting a fat paycheck regardless of who is ultimately declared winner. #BURN #MICDROP #PASSTHEDUTCHIEONTLEFTHANDSIDE
But the merch can be pretty sweet.
To expand on George Carlin’s astute observation, just as it’s true that anyone in America can become president, anyone can make a presidential t-shirt — and in both cases, that’s the problem. In these digital days, one doesn’t even need to bother going through the hassle of actually ‘making’ the shirt: where there’s an idea, there’s a drop shipper.
Which explains this:
And this:
And this:
Sad!
Back in my day, political humor had wit! It had character! It had logically coherent puns that employed AP style grammar!
I excavated a few of my favorite funnies for this post, starting with this late 80s/early 90s import that made me LITERALLY LTM1 when I first discovered it at a thrifting convention (yes Virginia, there is such a thing).
Leave a comment if you think I should make a video with that shirt, asking Gen Zers on the Venice Beach Boardwalk to tell me who any of those people are.
Ditto for this next one and its cast of characters, some of whom are obscure even to me — AND I WAS THERE!
Sacred is the shirt that comes equipped with the answers to life’s burning questions. Here is one such example, which dares to probe the deepest caverns of the mind to solve a most impenetrable query: What if the characters of Jack and Rose from James Cameron’s Titanic were portrayed by Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky instead of Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet?
Computer, zoom in to appreciate the attention to detail:
Here’s a dumb thing this shirt inspired me to think: “Golden showers bring Gennifer Flowers”
While you figure out what to make of that, I’ll round out this post with a shirt that I never imagined would ever be considered a political tee, but here we are in 2025:
And finally, may I present the newest addition to my PC, which I plan to proudly wear on my next visit to Palm Beach:
In summation, Perry Shall rules. Politics drools. But political tees also rule.
And as Perry and I celebrate another Passover all these many years later, let us conclude as we traditionally do our Seder: “Next year in Gennifer Flowers!”
“Laugh To Myself” - which, in the spirit of honesty, I propose we start using instead.