"Mort" Sahl

[Smeraldina Rima]

Mort Sahl's reply to the introduction to the 1960 interview surprised me:

Studs Terkel: Much is being made of American humour today and much nonsense is being said these days too and of course the name of one comes to mind immediately, Mort Sahl, who is, if nothing else, certainly provocative. Sahl's territory is not the usual one of, he's not a creature of gag men. The mother-in-law jokes, the divorce jokes or the tv personality jokes may be part now and then if he does use them to integrate it as part of something. He comments on the scene, Mort, often you're asked the question, Mort Sahl is our guest this morning, and often the question is asked of Mort Sahl, I know one that he tires of much I'm sure: you represent a new kind of humorist and the misused phrase 'sick' is used here it's as much of a cliche now as the word 'beat'. What's your feeling when you're told you're a new kind of humorist?

Sahl: Well you know, Studs, first of all if I represent a new kind where are the others? Let's get back to that you know if it's a new trend I'm pretty lonely for a guy who's part of a movement.

In retrospect this seems like he's ignoring Lenny Bruce, who had a 1959 album called "The Sick Humor of Lenny Bruce". In later interviews, he clearly admires Lenny Bruce, so I'm wondering, was there more rivalry between them at the start or am I making a mountain out of a Sahl-hill? Perhaps Sahl just meant that there aren't many others even if he isn't completely out on his own. Terkel must have had a few people in mind, but he doesn't press the issue.

[McChesney Duntz]

Sahl was pretty much universally dismissive of every comedian that wasn't him, and yeah, that very much included Lenny Bruce.

[Smeraldina Rima]

Thanks.

[MortSahlFan]

Thanks.

That's not true... He thought Jonathan Winters was great. Always like George Carlin, and helped him out in many ways early in his career, and George always mentioned him in interviews.

He just didn't mythologize Lenny Bruce. He said, "He was a good comedian, but that movie (Lenny) made him out to be a priest".

He liked Bob Hope, radio humorists like Henry Morgan

https://youtu.be/aFd-6PTEwpI

[Smeraldina Rima]

Appreciate the information. I doubt McChesney meant to disagree with that and as I mentioned before, in his later interviews he clearly admires Lenny Bruce. I do think there's an interesting difference between, as you say, just not mythologising Bruce, and as in that interview, responding to Turkel's question about the trend of new commentating comedians in 1960 by claiming to be the only one of note.

[MortSahlFan]

Appreciate the information. I doubt McChesney meant to disagree with that and as I mentioned before, in his later interviews he clearly admires Lenny Bruce. I do think there's an interesting difference between, as you say, just not mythologising Bruce, and as in that interview, responding to Turkel's question about the trend of new commentating comedians in 1960 by claiming to be the only one of note.

I know he liked him very much as a friend. Always considered him a sentimental and nice guy. He mentioned in one interview that his cursing prevented all the other stuff from being heard (and unemployment), since it overshadowed, and said he preferred his early stuff when he would joke or imitate movie stars.

In the 1960 interview, he says that Lenny is not "sick", and mentions a "red-blooded comedian" who joked "I hit one of those things in traffic. A kid." -- "Funny?" - Mort said, and referred to a joke Lenny made, about an intellectual who knows the world is going to hell, and is on top of a building threatening suicide. "But because the man is reasonable, soon, the crowd joins him, starts to unionize". But I don't think Lenny was in his Top 5... Since 1954 til 2020, he always loved Jonathan Winters. "Republican, anti-social, crazy, but talented and anti-authoritarian" and relished telling stories about him during his final 5-10 years of performing. In his last interview, when asked about retirement, he echoed something Milton Berle said, "Retire? To what?" and said that working and talking to people was the thing that kept him alive. I think he would be alive today is COVID didn't come and shut down the theaters (not that he would have lived another 20 yrs, but still...)

George Carlin gave Mort the most positive mentions, something I saw in google (somewhere in my bookmarks), and in newspapers.com -- in part because Carlin was interviewed a lot more than Woody Allen and others.

[Smeraldina Rima]

I should have listened to the end. He even acknowledges Bruce as the comedian who's supposed to be 'the dean of "sick" comedy' and laughs at that joke he describes, so not really ignoring him. Whoops.

[Jake Thingray]

Apparently an early 60's BBC special for Sahl, with the audience including the Beyond the Fringe quartet, was judged unsuccessful and too much like traditional Light Ent rather than satire, resulting in That Was The Week That Was subsequently striving to avoid its ambience.

[Barry Admin]

I know he liked him very much as a friend.

Can you go into this more?

[MortSahlFan]

Can you go into this more?

I meant he liked him more as a friend than as a comedian.