Episode 107 — Jimmy Tingle: Wit, Conscience & the Boston Microphone

pplpod Episode 107 traces Jimmy Tingle’s lane as America’s civic jester—Boston-born stand-up, social satirist, commentator, and do-good troublemaker. We track the club days and late-night TV breaks, the CBS 60 Minutes II essays that blended Andy-Rooney candor with comic bite, and the one-man shows that turned headlines into human stories (Uncommon Sense, Jimmy Tingle’s American Dream, Tingle’s State of the Union). We unpack his compass: empathy first, joke second—plus the Harvard Kennedy School detour that sharpened the policy brain behind the punchlines, the 2018 run for Massachusetts lieutenant governor, and Humor for Humanity, his ongoing project to funnel laughs into tangible good. Along the way: PBS specials, New England roots, and a working comedian’s toolkit—clean lines, moral clarity, and the k ...