Born Yacov Moshe Maza in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Jackie followed his three brothers, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather into the rabbinate, only to resign three years after his ordination to become a comedian.
Jackie is the subject of a long interview in Tablet this week by David Evanier, an article worth reading whether you love him or hate him. The interviewer covers a wide range of topics from his family background, his Jewishness, his pride in the Borscht Belt origins of his comedy, his support for Israel, why Gentiles in general and Italians in particular are his best audiences, and his favorite comedians.
As a tribute to Jackie on his birthday, we're sharing two video clips of his performances. The first is a classic routine about how the dating system is a fraud from his first Broadway show The World According to Me, and the second is a collection of clips from a documentary about Jackie called Equal Opportunity Offender.
Enjoy!
(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS: THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS. YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)
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was cut off at the beginning of the clip
ReplyDeleteThat's the way it was posted on YouTube. I have no control over it.
DeleteI liked these two clips better than two weeks worth of the more usual fare on this "humor" site. Ed T.
ReplyDeleteEd T., Thanks for your support and comments. I'll try to give you more like this but please understand my 3,400 subscribers have different tastes in Jewish humor, which is a lot more than Jackie Mason and stand-up comics. Please see my interpretation of what constitutes "Jewish humor" in the yellow bar on top of the blog.
DeleteThe rest of you readers, what do you think? Do you agree with my take on Jewish humor? Please comment on what you like and don't like in reply to this conversation.