Marcus Joseph Ruslander[1][2][3] (August 23, 1932 – March 30, 2023), better known as Mark Russell, was an American political satirist and comedian.

His routines were a mix of political stand-up humor covering current events and musical parodies in which he accompanied himself on his trademark American flag-themed piano.

For example, in 1990, following the execution of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, Russell did a parody song on his show to the tune of "Chattanooga Choo-Choo".

[citation needed] Russell's humor was known for having skewered Democrats and Republicans, as well as third party, independent politicians and other prominent political (and sometimes nonpolitical) figures.

"[citation needed] For several years, on the Sunday before Labor Day, Russell made annual appearances on Meet the Press, which was hosted from 1991 to 2008 by Tim Russert, also a Canisius High graduate.

The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Russell and the members of 2 Live Crew argued that song parodies were protected under fair use.

[10] In the NewsRadio episode "The Public Domain" (1997), Phil Hartman's character Bill McNeal is inspired by Russell to start a career as a singing political comedian.

In later years, the opening sequence was a montage of a few of Russell's monologues accompanied by a Dixieland jazz arrangement of "The Stars and Stripes Forever".