Friends, I submit to you that that’s the kind of quotation you wish to have attributed to you after pulling a big, fun, harmless prank.

On the Pentagon.

Read the Wall Street Journal’s account of the “Mysterious Portrait at the Pentagon.” I enjoin you.

Then, if you’re so inclined, read my paean to the irreverent for their critical service to the country:

Comedians perform a crucial civic service. They help us to laugh at politicians and ourselves. In doing so, they keep us all aware of our humanity. This is of prime importance in a government of the people, by the people, for the people. To be human is to be laughable sometimes; to know that is to have humility. As Mr. Bennet puts it in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?”

Late-night comics especially are known for their irreverence, but what is left when that fails them? Reverence? Perish the thought. Tyrannies outlaw humor to preserve the illusion that the Glorious Leader is glorious.