The generation that grew up with Mad magazine and the Vietnam War created its own brand of irreverent comedy.

Thanks to shared experience and a unique set of comic influences, we baby boomers can count as part of our legacy a distinct brand of humor that at its best (National Lampoon, "Saturday Night Live," "Animal House," "Eddie Murphy Raw," "Seinfeld," "Curb Your Enthusiasm") actually fulfills the promise of our much-touted, often disappointing generation. Iconoclastic, in thrall to the absurd, self-absorbed, self-effacing, angry, truth-seeking—boomer humor may not always have a point (David Letterman's Velcro suit comes to mind) but it is usually funny, often smart and almost always well crafted. It also links the radio days of pre-World War II America with the age of the Internet, where I recently enjoyed Dan Aykroyd's classic sketch from the first season of "SNL," the "Super Bass O'Matic '76." (Turns out that chopping up stuff in blenders is quite popular these days on YouTube.)