Jackie Mason

Jackie Mason, born Yacov Moshe Maza on June 9, 1928, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and Broadway performer who died on July 24, 2021. The fourth and last son in a family of six children, Mason was the only sibling born in the United States. His parents, Eli and Belle Maza, were born in Minsk and immigrated to the United States in the 1920s, with a Jewish refugee organization helping his father secure a rabbinical position in Sheboygan. Mason descended from a long line of rabbis extending back at least five generations, including his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather.

When Mason was five, the family relocated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, settling on Henry Street, Rutgers Street, and Norfolk Street so that Mason and his siblings could pursue a yeshiva education. Yiddish was the primary language spoken among his parents and their social circle. As a teenager, Mason worked as a busboy at resorts in the Borscht Belt in New York's Catskill Mountains. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and sociology from the City College of New York in 1953. At eighteen he became a cantor, and at twenty-five he received semikhah from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and was ordained a rabbi, as his three brothers, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had been before him. He led congregations in Weldon, North Carolina, and at Beth Israel Congregation in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Following his father's death in 1959, Mason resigned from his rabbinical position to pursue a career in comedy.

Mason adopted his stage name after an appearance on the Barry Gray radio show. His early television work included a 1962 appearance on The Steve Allen Show, his first national television exposure, as well as appearances on the Tonight Show with Steve Allen, The Perry Como Show, The Dean Martin Show, and The Garry Moore Show. In 1962 he released his debut LP, I'm the Greatest Comedian in the World, Only Nobody Knows It Yet, followed by I Want to Leave You with the Words of a Great Comedian. That same year, the William Morris Agency advised him to take elocution lessons to reduce his Yiddish accent, advice he declined to follow. He also performed at New York City nightclubs, where he earned as much as $10,000 per week.

Mason made multiple guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show during the 1960s, though his relationship with Sullivan became contentious following an incident during his October 18, 1964 appearance. Sullivan, standing behind the camera, signaled Mason with two fingers to indicate he had two minutes remaining. Mason incorporated finger gestures into his act in response, pointing toward Sullivan with an index finger and thumb. Sullivan believed Mason had extended his middle finger on air and subsequently banned him from the show, canceling a six-appearance contract worth $45,000. Mason denied the accusation and filed a libel suit against Sullivan at the New York Supreme Court. The court dismissed most of Mason's complaint, though the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division reinstated three additional causes of action against Sullivan in June 1966. Sullivan's influence in the industry led Mason to be characterized as unreliable and volatile, effectively limiting his television work for the following two decades.

Mason's Broadway career spanned from 1969 to 2005 and encompassed both performing and book writing. His credits include A Teaspoon Every Four Hours, Much Ado About Everything, Love Thy Neighbor, Jackie Mason: Brand New, and Jackie Mason: Politically Incorrect, among other productions. Over the course of his Broadway career he wrote and performed six one-man shows. His 1986 one-man show The World According to Me! earned him a Special Tony Award in 1987, an Outer Critics Circle Award, an Ace Award, an Emmy Award, and a Grammy nomination. His 1988 special Jackie Mason on Broadway brought him a second Emmy Award for outstanding writing and another Ace Award. In 1991, his voice performance as Rabbi Hyman Krustofski in the Simpsons episode "Like Father, Like Clown" earned him a third Emmy Award.

Mason wrote the majority of his own comedic material throughout his career. His humor drew heavily on cultural and ethnic identity, employing Yiddish-inflected language, innuendo, and wordplay. His delivery and voice were recognized as defining elements of his comedic style, and his material was frequently described as irreverent and politically grounded.