Mark Russell Set to Zing at Piano

An evening dominated by reruns is broken up by the latest “Mark Russell Comedy Special” (9:30 p.m. KCET; 8 p.m. KVCR).

Believe it or not, this bespectacled, bow-tied humorist has been poking fun at politicians for 26 years. Do the math. That means he’s been zinging Democrats and Republicans alike since Gerald Ford was in the White House.

Improv wizard Wayne Brady (“Whose Line Is It Anyway?”) probably can relate to this latter-day Will Rogers, who has the knack for conceiving short, spunky songs linked to topical events.

In fact, Russell has been known to add new material drawn from the day’s headlines just minutes before taking the stage in his live half-hour specials, which are tape-delayed on the West Coast.

For Russell, a stage happens to be anywhere he can fit a grand piano. In recent years, he’s traveled to D.C.’s Smithsonian Institution and George Washington University as well as Philadelphia and Toronto.

In 1994, he even managed to tinkle the ivories while his piano was airlifted to the top of Alaska’s Mendenhall Center.

Clearly, this is one satirist who gets around. Tonight, however, he’ll appear in the warm, comfortable confines of WNED, the PBS station in his hometown of Buffalo.

Call us crazy, but we’re fairly certain President Bush and Vice President Cheney won’t be setting their VCRs.