Jon Carroll

Who is Jon Carroll?

Jon Carroll has been a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle since 1982, when he succeeded columnist Charles McCabe. His column appears on the back page of the Chronicle's Datebook section Tuesdays through Fridays. Locally, he is best known for his moderate-to-liberal politics and his odd, self-referential humor.

Carroll was born in Los Angeles and raised in nearby Pasadena. He attended UC Berkeley, where he edited the campus humor magazine, the California Pelican. Before becoming a newspaper columnist, he worked on the editorial staff at Rolling Stone magazine where he wrote "Voice Denies Nixon Drug Use," Rags magazine, Oui, a Playboy spinoff; the Village Voice; WomenSports magazine; and New West magazine.

Carroll has long lived in Oakland, with his wife, author Tracy Johnston, and two cats named Pancho and Bucket, occasional subjects of his columns. He rediscovered mondegreens and invented pele dancing, He writes satire, memoir, political comment and anarchic humor.