Jackie Mason, Borscht Belt Stand-Up Comedian, Dies at 93
Jackie Mason, the famed stand-up comedian known for his bringing his Jewish sensibilities and Yiddish culture and delivery into his irreverent routines straight from the Borscht Belt, has died. He was 93.
Mason's death was reported by The New York Times as told to them by his lawyer Raoul Felder. He died at a hospital in Manhattan on Saturday. No cause of death was given.
Mason was a Tony and Emmy winner famous for his one-man shows on Broadway, and for playing the voice of Rabbi Hyman Krustofski, or Krusty the Clown's dad, on "The Simpsons."
Once a rabbi from Sheboygan, Wisconsin and born to a family of strict Orthodox Jews from a long line of rabbis, Mason got his start doing standup in the Catskills but managed to keep his career thriving long after the Catskills resorts closed their doors, especially through the '80s, in which in 1986 he won a Tony for his one-man show "The World According to Me."
Mason was famed for his grounded, down to Earth and very Jewish comedy in which he would flail his arms and gesture wildly, taking aim at everything from football to doctors to elevator music.
Though getting his start ahead of in your face comedians like Don Rickles, it was not until an appearance on Steve Allen's "Tonight Show" in 1962 that he made his first TV appearance, later becoming a frequent guest of "The Ed Sullivan Show." He famously got embroiled in the "Middle Finger Incident" on Ed Sullivan's show, holding up one of his own fingers to Sullivan and to the audience after an address by Lyndon Johnson pre-empted the show and returned when Mason was halfway through his act. Sullivan canceled Mason's contract after he became convinced the fingers he showed was an obscene gesture.
Some of Mason's other film and TV roles included "The Jerk" with Steve Martin, Mel Brooks' "The History of the World, Part 1" (he played Jew #1), filling in for Rodney Dangerfield in "Caddyshack II," the failed sitcom "Chicken Soup" and in a small guest appearance as himself on "30 Rock."
