When it comes to Blago, everyone's a comedian

There's his hard-to-pronounce name, his helmet hair, his and his wife's Sopranos-like language, and his insistence that there's "nothin' but sunshine hanging over me."

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has given suburban comedians, cartoonists, T-shirt makers and YouTubers more comedy material in one day than Barack Obama gave them in an entire presidential campaign, and they're having a field day. Could a Saturday Night Live skit be far behind?

"He's a comedy gem," said comedian Hal Sparks, who's adding Blagojevich material to his shows this weekend at the Improv Comedy Club in Schaumburg. "Of course, we could not have the Obama majesty come out of Illinois without countering it immediately with someone corrupt ... I just wish I would have noticed how stupid and crazy and moronic and self-centered and useless he was before, so now I'm playing catch-up. But with a name like that, he'll be funny for decades."

Blagojevich has become a political cartoonist's dream, too. Not only does he have easy-to-exaggerate hair, but now they can add props like a Senate seat or symbols for expletives, said Dan Hampson, an artist who teaches cartooning and character design for animation at the Illinois Institute of Art in Schaumburg.

"He's perfect for cartoonists," Hampson said. "It's very reminiscent of Nixon when the tapes were released. The political cartoonists loved it."

On YouTube, there's a slide show of Blagojevich photos set to music from "The Godfather," (www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-blAx2IAMw) or a compilation of the sound bites at the "Rod Blagojevich Hindsight Theater" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-blAx2IAMw).

The amount of humorous Blagojevich merchandise grows daily. Some of the latest T-shirts are "Free Rod," "Blagoingtojailevich," and "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Judy," referring to his 1996 Republican challenger, Judy Baar Topinka.

What some local comedians are saying about the gov.:

• Rhonda Cohn, of Buffalo Grove: His hair! It reminds me of Donald Trump. It made me wonder why we never saw them at the same party together. They're twins! One of them is the evil twin, but I don't know which one.

• Jerry Wolski, former Wheaton resident: Thanks to the FBI and Google, the rest of the world now knows how to correctly pronounce and spell "Blagojevich." • Patti Vasquez, of Chicago: I can't believe this has happened to us twice. It's like a relationship you know isn't right, but you're too lazy to get out of it. (She's adding Blagojevich material to her shows this weekend at Zanie's in Vernon Hills).

• Hal Sparks, Winnetka native: There's something essentially unfunny about a governor. Then Sarah Palin came along and taught us something about how funny a governor can be. But Blagojevich didn't get the memo on that. She must have said, "Quick! Get me another funny, dumb governor! Immediately!"

On Thursday, The Fifty/50 bar in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood added "The Dirty Governor" martini to its menu. You take a dirty martini and "steal the olives but leave the pimentos." It's made, naturally, with Effen Vodka.

Even Blagojevich's own Facebook page contains some unintended fodder. His favorite quote is listed as: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

When you really think about what Blagojevich is charged with, it's not funny at all, added Vasquez.

"It's not funny," she said. "But it's tornado crazy."