Jackie Mason 鈥 former rabbi who rose to fame as a comedy rock star
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Jackie Mason, a rabbi-turned-comedian whose feisty brand of stand-up comedy led him to Catskills nightclubs, West Coast talk shows and Broadway stages, has died. He was 93.
The irascible Mason was known for his sharp wit and piercing social commentary, often about being Jewish, men and women and his own inadequacies. His typical style was amused outrage.
鈥淓ighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe,鈥 he once joked. Another Mason line was: 鈥淧olitics doesn鈥檛 make strange bedfellows, marriage does.鈥 About himself, he once said: 鈥淚 was so self-conscious, every time football players went into a huddle; I thought they were talking about me.鈥
His death was mourned far and wide, from fellow comedian Gilbert Gottfried, who called him 鈥渙ne of the best,鈥 to Fox News Channel personality Sean Hannity, who hailed Mason as 鈥渋rreverent, iconoclastic, funny, smart and a great American patriot.鈥 Henry Winkler tweeted: 鈥淣ow you get to make heaven laugh.鈥
Mason was born Jacob Maza, the son of a rabbi. His three brothers became rabbis. So did Mason, who at one time had congregations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Comedy eventually proved to be a more persistent calling than God.
鈥淎 person has to feel emotionally barren or empty or frustrated in order to become a comedian,鈥 he said in 1987. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think people who feel comfortable or happy are motivated to become comedians. You鈥檙e searching for something and you鈥檙e willing to pay a high price to get that attention.鈥
Mason started in show business as a social director at a resort in the Catskills. He was the guy who got everybody up to play Simon Says, quiz games or shuffleboard. He told jokes, too. After one season, he was playing clubs throughout the Catskills for better money.
鈥淣obody else knew me, but in the mountains, I was a hit,鈥 Mason recalled.
In 1961, the pint-sized comic got a big break, an appearance on Steve Allen鈥檚 weekly television variety show. His success brought him to 鈥淭he Ed Sullivan Show鈥 and other programs.
He was banned for two years from the 鈥淪ullivan鈥 show when he allegedly gave the host the finger when Sullivan signaled to him to wrap up his act during an appearance on October 18, 1964.
Mason鈥檚 act even carried him to Broadway, where he put on several one-man shows, including 鈥淔reshly Squeezed鈥 in 2005, 鈥淟ove Thy Neighbor鈥 in 1996 and 鈥淭he World According to Me鈥 in 1988, for which he received a special Tony Award.
鈥淚 feel like Ronald Reagan tonight,鈥 Mason joked on Tony night. 鈥淗e was an actor all his life, knew nothing about politics and became president of the United States. I鈥檓 an ex-rabbi who knew nothing about acting and I鈥檓 getting a Tony Award.鈥
Mason called himself an observer who watched people and learned. From those observations he said he got his jokes and then tried them out on friends.
鈥淚鈥檇 rather make a fool of myself in front of two people for nothing than 1,000 people who paid for a ticket,鈥 he said.
His humor could leap from computers and designer coffee to then-Senator John Kerry, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Donald Trump. He was able to articulate the average Joe鈥檚 anger, making the indignities of life seem funny and maybe just a little bit more bearable.
鈥淚 very rarely write anything down. I just think about life a lot and try to put it into phrases that will get a joke,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 never do a joke that has a point that I don鈥檛 believe in. To me, the message and the joke is the same.鈥
On TV, Mason was a reliable presence, usually with a cameo on such shows as 鈥30 Rock鈥 or 鈥淭he Simpsons鈥 or as a reliable guest on late night chat shows. He performed in front of Britain鈥檚 Queen Elizabeth II and his show 鈥淔earless鈥 played London鈥檚 West End in 2012.
He portrayed a Jewish ex-pajama salesman in love with an Irish-Catholic widow portrayed by Lynn Redgrave in a series called 鈥淐hicken Soup鈥 in 1989 but it didn鈥檛 last. During the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the British Broadcasting Corp鈥檚 Scottish service hired Mason as a weekly commentator. He was in 鈥淐addyshack II,鈥 a notorious flop.
Mason鈥檚 humor sometimes went too far, as when he touched off a controversy in New York while campaigning for GOP mayoral candidate Rudolph Giuliani against Democrat David Dinkins, who was black. Mason had to apologize after saying, among other things, that Jews would vote for Dinkins out of guilt.
Raoul Felder, his lawyer and long-time friend, said Mason had a Talmudic outlook on life: 鈥淭hat whatever you would say to him, he would start an argument with you.鈥
He is survived by his wife, producer Jyll Rosenfeld, and a daughter, Sheba.
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