Jackie Mason is kaput

[Petey Pate]

One of the last of the Borsch Belt 'take my wife, please' school of American comedians, who infamously and allegedly gave Ed Sullivan 'the finger' on live TV. He might be best known nowadays for being the voice of Krusty the clown's father in The Simpsons though.

Did anyone on here ever see him live?  I never did but I do recall seeing some of his cranky right wing political commentary on YouTube during the Obama years, where he praised Sarah Palin and such, which admittedly put me off him. 

[Shit Good Nose]

My dad saw him a few times (one of his favourite comedians), but he died in 2009 so I can't add anything else to the live experience.  I enjoyed listening to recordings and seeing him on TV, but I've not seen or heard anything of his for getting on for 20 years.  Although I knew he was still alive, I didn't know he was still working in any capacity.

[Pink Gregory]

Hardcore Kahanist as well, but hey-ho.

Rip in peace Rabbi Krustovski

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

The Guardian's obit seems to deal with the crank opinions and reactionary views and so on well without turning that into a reason to dismiss him and without underplaying it either.

[sevendaughters]

there's a great section of one of the Jackie Mason joke books called "fax jokes" that has provided one of my favourite dated jokes, "my son, he don't call, he don't write, he don't even fax!", I sometimes sit and wonder about the exact era that joke would have been funny in and the implied audience.

[Pink Gregory]

Imagine having two or three fax-based killers up your sleeve for a rainy day.  What a time capsule.

[MoreauVasz]

Caddyshack 2: "Be the ball... Be the ball... If I wanted to be a piece of sporting equipment I'd be a woman's bicycle seat!"

[dissolute ocelot]

Trying to remember where I first became aware of him, presumably British TV sometime in the 80s. Was he on Bob Monkhouse's chat show, or some other British legend introducing him as their favourite performer?

[Brundle-Fly]

I saw him live over twenty years ago at the Cockney in Tottenham Ct Road AKA Spearmint Rhino AKA whatever it is now. I was at the back and could barely understand a word he said. The acoustics weren't great and his Catskills delivery was almost a burble. All I could hear was "BBbbbVVvvv BBbbbBBvvvVVv, ya shclaching ma shiskas, frum. BvbbBBbbbbvVvvvv. Oy."

My then-girlfriend (we were on the precipice of breaking up) turned up late and very drunk. She heckled him from the moment she sat down, so we left immediately. Mason noticed this and quipped, "Yadda yadda yadda HHvvv...BBbbbvvvvVVVBBbbb" and everybody laughed.

R.I.P.

[sevendaughters]

Trying to remember where I first became aware of him, presumably British TV sometime in the 80s. Was he on Bob Monkhouse's chat show, or some other British legend introducing him as their favourite performer?

Had a London Palladium special that aired on the BBC in 1996, possibly off the back of Simpsons/Seinfeld/Sandersmania?

[gilbertharding]

Wasn't he supposed to have been the favourite comedian of the Queen Mother?

[letsgobrian]

Had a London Palladium special that aired on the BBC in 1996, possibly off the back of Simpsons/Seinfeld/Sandersmania?

The 1988 Royal Variety Performance performance seems to be what opened the doors to lots of TV appearances. Heavily on the BBC at first, though he had An Audience With... on ITV in 1990.

[Jake Thingray]

Bit baffled by his friendship with Ted Rogers.

[derek stitt]

Bit baffled by his friendship with Ted Rogers.

They were both famous for the use of their fingers?

[non capisco]

I saw him live over twenty years ago at the Cockney in Tottenham Ct Road AKA Spearmint Rhino AKA whatever it is now.

In September 2001 he was doing some kind of topical improvised show at one of the theatres in Soho, big picture of his face above the marquee with the slogan 'If it's in the news.....it's in the show!'. As a result one of my first thoughts as I watched the second plane hit was "Good luck getting some laughs out of this tonight, Jackie Mason, mate."

[Echo Valley 2-6809]

The 1988 Royal Variety Performance performance seems to be what opened the doors to lots of TV appearances.

His spot on the 1991 show was good. He was in his sixties then but the decline hadn't started.
Love the way he takes the piss out of the OTT tribute to Cameron Mackintosh that came before him. Takes some chutzpah as a visiting American comic to do that at the Royal Variety Performance (God bless you, Ma'am).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGFYkgjI7_Y&t=47s