As Elizabeth Blair wrote on the NPR website yesterday,
Sahl was a forerunner of topical, stand-up comedy. His fans included Lenny Bruce and George Carlin. A 1960 Time magazine cover showed Sahl surrounded by balloons — each showing a caricature of a U.S. president. Sahl holds a long, sharp pin between two fingers, ready to start popping.
As Rick Schultz wrote in Variety,
In 1953, when Sahl first appeared at the Hungry i, a San Francisco folk singer’s hangout, he was an unknown with little stage experience. But his rapid-fire monologues about politics, social trends and fads quickly earned him the nickname “Rebel Without a Pause.”
“The three great geniuses of the period were Nichols and May, Jonathan Winters and Mort Sahl,” Woody Allen told New York magazine in 2008. Allen credited Sahl’s intellectual brand of humor for getting him into comedy. “He was the best thing I ever saw,” Allen said in another interview. “He totally restructured comedy. He changed the rhythm of the jokes.”
In this 1967 video, Sahl explains politics of the left, right, and center, and the left, right, and center of each of the divisions. And then he goes on to apply his logic to romantic relationships. 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.
Posts
ReplyDeletequite a few years ago, I was ushering at the jewish community center in newton mass - alas, the theatre is no more.
anyway, one time the "act" was mort. there he was with his red sweater, sitting on a stool, a newspaper (new york times, maybe) tucked under his arm, and his act was still spot on. occasionally, he'd open the paper and say "oh, here's one", then he'd riff on some headline.
it was great how he had that chuckle, with a nod to his audience that you were on the same page (pun intended), as you see often in this video.
he and I had a nice chat. somewhere, I have a photo of us together. this was of course when selfie was not yet in the dictionary, which back then was a book.
to coin a well-worn phrase, they don't make 'em like they used to.
94? well, as my dear departed mum (o"h, z"l) would say, "he had a good innings".
rest in peace, mort (olov ha-sholl'm).