Jackie Mason (born Yacov Moshe Maza; ; June 9, 1928 – July 24, 2021) was an American stand-up comedian and actor.
His 1986 one-man show The World According to Me! won a Special Tony Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, an Ace Award, an Emmy Award, and earned a Grammy nomination. Later, his 1988 special Jackie Mason on Broadway won another Emmy Award (for outstanding writing) and another Ace Award, and his 1991 voice-over of Rabbi Hyman Krustofski in The Simpsons episode "Like Father, Like Clown" won Mason a third Emmy Award. He wrote and performed six one-man shows on Broadway.
Known for his delivery and voice, as well as his use of innuendo and pun, Mason's often culturally grounded humor was described as irreverent.<ref name=autogenerated2>Zeke Jarvis (2015). Make 'em Laugh! American Humorists of the 20th and 21st Centuries: American Humorists of the 20th and 21st Centuries Make 'em Laugh! American Humorists of the 20th and 21st Centuries]</ref> A critic for Time magazine wrote that, throughout his career, Mason spoke to audiences: "... with the Yiddish locutions of an immigrant who just completed a course in English. By mail."
Early life
Jackie Mason was born Yacov Moshe Maza on June 9, 1928 (according to the 1940 NYC census), in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the fourth and last son (and only son born in the United States) in a family of six children of strict Orthodox Jews. Mason came from a long line of rabbis, which included his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and his great-great grandfather."A Mason by any Other Name," Jewish Book World (2006).
His father Eli Maza and his mother, Belle (Gitlin), were born in Minsk, and immigrated to the U.S. in the 1920s with the rest of Mason's family; his father died in 1959. A Jewish refugee organization helped his father find a position in Sheboygan, as it needed a rabbi. When Mason was five years old, his family moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, largely so that he and his siblings could pursue a yeshiva education, where he grew up on Henry Street, Rutgers Street, and Norfolk Street.Ken Gross (February 23, 1987). "Too Much of a Ham to Remain a Rabbi, Broadway's Jackie Mason is Now the Toast of the Town", People There, his parents and their friends all spoke Yiddish.
As a teenager, Mason worked as a busboy at resorts in the Borscht Belt in New York's Catskill Mountains. He recalled: "Twenty minutes, at the Pearl Lake Hotel. I broke all the dishes. They made me a lifeguard. 'But I can't swim', I told the owner. 'Don't tell the guests', he says."
In 1953 Mason graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in his double major of English and sociology from the City College of New York.Joseph Dorinson (2015), Kvetching and Shpritzing: Jewish Humor in American Popular Culture, McFarland At age 18 he became a cantor, and at age 25 he received semikhah from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and was ordained a rabbi (as his three brothers, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had been). He led congregations in Weldon, North Carolina, and at Beth Israel Congregation in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.Adam Reinherz. "End of an era; Soon all that will remain will be Beth Israel's history legacy", The Jewish Chronicle He said that in synagogue, "I started telling more and more jokes, and after a while, a lot of gentiles would come to the congregation just to hear the sermons." Three years later, after his father died, he resigned from his job as a rabbi in a synagogue to become a comedian because, he said, "Somebody in the family had to make a living.""All About ... Jackie Mason", Jackie Mason; The Official Site, Retrieved July 14, 2014
Career
Early years
Mason wrote most of his own material. A sampling of his humor is his commentary on doctors: "That's a great profession, a doctor. Where else can you ask a woman to get undressed and then send the bill to her husband?" And his commentary on what is important in life: "Money is not important. Love is important. Fortunately, I love money." As well as his ruminations on pleasing people: "You can't please everyone. I have a girlfriend. I think she's the most wonderful person in the world. That's to me. But to my wife ..."Aubrey J. Sher, The Stand-Up Comedy Festival: Send In The Clowns And on trust: "My grandfather always said that I shouldn't watch my money. That I should watch my health. So while I was watching my health, someone stole my money. It was my grandfather." And on fidelity: "Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe."