HE HAS been refusing dialysis for weeks and doctors are baffled as to why he is not dead but Art Buchwald is finding new fame, and fun, in the process.

The Pulitizer prize-winning political satirist, whose column has appeared in 500 newspapers (including this one), has made a career out of ridiculing the powerful. Now he is spitting in the eye of death. “I was supposed to say goodbye to the world in two or three weeks. But I’m still here after nine weeks. No one expected me to stay on for so long,” he said.

Yesterday, from his hospice bed in Washington, he told The Times: “I’m having the time of my life so I’ve put death on hold.” What will you say to Him when you do meet? “I’ll say ‘long time, no see’.”

He has rediscovered a celebrity status that had largely faded in recent years. His weekly syndicated column, scrapped after the amputation of his right leg in January, has been revived and Buchwald is amassing a new army of fans. “I’m more famous than I ever was. I like that!” he said.

Mr Buchwald, 80, has been inundated with more than 2,000 letters, a profile interview in the New York Times and appearances on prime-time television. “When I announced I wasn’t going to take dialysis, people decided I was a hero,” he said in this week’s column. “You accept every compliment you can get when you’re in a hospice.”

Visitors have included members of the Kennedy clan, congressmen and the French ambassador, who brought him a medal. “A visit to the hospice is now a pilgrimage. I think they come here because it’s a shrine and I can cure them of their illnesses, like Lourdes.”

They all complain about how difficult it was to find a spot for their cars. “Dying, it turns out, is easy. Parking is tough,” he said. “They not only visit me, and are very kind, but they also bring me food, cheesecakes, shrimp, candy, cookies and takeout from restaurants.” He is also happily munching his way through the McDonald’s menu, much to the bemusement of the medical profession.

Yesterday, he sounded frail when speaking to The Times. But Buchwald says he has learnt how many friends he has and how much love there is — “that wouldn’t have happened if I’d had a heart attack”.

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