Jackie Mason Dies at 93; Angry, Jewish Comic is Now Making God Laugh in Heaven—or is It in Hell?

Mason, when he was maybe in his early forties; imagine how long he would have lived, if not for aprtheid?!

By Grand Rapids Anonymous
Sunday, July 25, 2021 at 12:49:00 A.M. EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Jackie Mason, a rabbi-turned-comedian whose feisty brand of standup comedy led him to Catskills nightclubs, West Coast talk shows and Broadway stages, has died. He was 93.

Mason died Saturday at 6 p.m. ET at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan after being hospitalized for over two weeks, the celebrity lawyer Raoul Felder told The Associated Press.

The irascible Mason was known for his sharp wit and piercing social commentary, often about being Jewish, men and women and his own inadequacies. His typical style was amused outrage.

“Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe,” he once joked. Another Mason line was: “Politics doesn’t make strange bedfellows, marriage does.” About himself, he once said: “I was so self-conscious, every time football players went into a huddle; I thought they were talking about me.”

His death was mourned far and wide, from fellow comedian Gilbert Gottfried, who called him “one of the best,” to Fox News Channel personality Sean Hannity, who hailed Mason as “irreverent, iconoclastic, funny, smart and a great American patriot.” Henry Winkler tweeted: “Now you get to make heaven laugh.”

Mason was born Jacob Maza, the son of a rabbi. His three brothers became rabbis. So did Mason, who at one time had congregations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Comedy eventually proved to be a more persistent calling than God.

“A person has to feel emotionally barren or empty or frustrated in order to become a comedian,” he told The Associated Press in 1987. “I don’t think people who feel comfortable or happy are motivated to become comedians. You’re searching for something and you’re willing to pay a high price to get that attention.”

GRA: Reports say, after his death, God gave Mason a choice of suffering in hell for eternity or going back to New York City—he chose hell.

I’m kidding...but it might be true, if God is Ed Sullivan. Personally not a big fan, but I don’t remember seeing him much. Good jokes in the write-up here.

--GRA

N.S.: Circa 1987, my big sister and I took our mom to see Mason on Broadway, for one of his many wildly successful runs. He mumbled so much that I couldn’t catch half his jokes, but when I could, he was hilarious.

The one joke I can recall had him comparing Jews and Italians. Jews were always saying, “If he says one more woid…” but the word never came. With the Italians, it was the opposite. Pow! One paisan hits another, out of nowhere, decking him, and it’s, “What did he say? What did he say?”