Humor & Life Quote by Rich Little

Rich Little’s throwaway line about Ross Perot is really a tiny autopsy of 1990s political celebrity: a comedian clocking a once-in-a-generation character he didn’t get to fully exploit. “I could have had a ball with him” isn’t admiration so much as professional hunger. Perot, with his Texas twang, charts, plainspoken indignation, and outsider-rich-guy persona, arrived as prepackaged material. For an impressionist, he was a gift: a voice you can sketch in three syllables, a worldview you can parody in one frantic tangent.

The intent is lightly rueful, but the subtext is sharper. Little is measuring Perot not as a statesman but as a comedic ecosystem: the kind of public figure who turns late-night and sketch comedy into a parallel campaign trail. Perot’s 1992 run rewired media coverage, leaning into spectacle and direct-to-camera messaging (infomercial-style TV buys) that practically begged for mimicry. Little’s line hints at missed opportunity or diminished platform: by the time Perot’s phenomenon peaked, the center of comedy had shifted toward faster, younger, more aggressively political voices, while classic impressionism was becoming a legacy craft.

There’s also a faintly cynical truth embedded here: politicians become “fun” to comics in proportion to how performative they are. Perot wasn’t just running for office; he was running a persona. Little’s phrasing treats that persona as a playground, reminding us how entertainment value can eclipse policy substance - and how comedians, knowingly or not, help decide which candidates feel culturally real enough to matter.