Arts & Entertainment

What, Me Change?
Not Jackie Mason.

Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News

T

he recent Don Imus flap has
caused a lively debate in the
Jewish comedy community about
the boundaries of insult humor — and
most of the comedians who employ this
type of humor — such as veteran Jewish
comic Jackie Mason — seem to be taking
it as no laughing matter.
Imus, the longtime New York shock
jock, was fired from the national television
and radio airwaves after making some
unflattering remarks about members of
the Rutgers University women's basketball
team. The national outrage over the corn-
ments — along with his long history of on-
air insults — have rattled the issue of char-
acter defamation in the guise of humor.
Veteran Jewish comedian Don Rickles,
81, has been using insult humor in his
act for years, as did the late Lenny Bruce
before him. Others, like Howard Stern,
Sarah Silverman and Sacha Baron Cohen,
have joined the insult fun in recent years,
being labeled by one observer as "Jews ...
who are mocking bigotry"
New York's Jewish Week took on the sub-
ject but found no agreement among come-
dians regarding how far they now can go
with derogatory references, but they all
oppose censorship.
Mason, the rabbi-turned-comic who

was born Yacov Maza in Sheboygan,
Wis., may bring up the matter when
he performs at the Andiamo Celebrity
Showroom in Warren on Friday and
Saturday, June 15-16. He already is in a bit
of hot water over his new book, Schmucks!
Our Favorite Fakes, Frauds, Lowlifes, Liars,
the Armed and Dangerous, and Good Guys
Gone Bad (HarperCollins; $25.95), which
he co-wrote with well-known celebrity
attorney Raoul Felder.
In the book, Mason and Felder attack
and vilify 60 people whom they label
schmucks," including politicians, celebri-
ties, sports stars, corporations, publish-
ers, crossing guards, doctors who keep
you waiting, the prestigious National
Endowment for the Arts — and even
"dead schmucks" like Jeannette Rankin,
the first woman to serve in Congress (she
was elected in 1916 as a Republican from
Montana).
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who is
Jewish, has called the book "inappropri-
ate and a New York State Commission on
Judicial Conduct said the book "repeat-
edly invokes racial, ethnic and religious
invective."
To learn how Mason feels about all
of this, and to get a preview of his visit
here this weekend, the Jewish News found
the 76-year-old comedian having a late
lunch in a Long Island restaurant and got
answers to these questions:

CC

Miller Time For JVS

C

about 11 million in the
1930s.
JM: It's true that Yiddish is
dying out. The new come-
dians rarely use a Yiddish
word in their acts, like the
old-time Jewish comics.
Of course, many of them
never went to Hebrew
school or even go to shul
on Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur now, so what
do they know?

omedian and con-
on serious issues – went on
servative politi-
to star in TV's Dennis Miller
cal commentator
Live, Saturday Night Live,
Dennis Miller will come to
Monday Night Football and
the Detroit Opera House 8
several radio programs and
p.m. Thursday, June 28, for
movies.
the Detroit Live! Fundraiser,
He now hosts the Dennis
an annual benefit for JVS, a
Miller
Show 6-9 p.m.
Dennis Miller
nonprofit organization provid-
Mondays-Fridays on WDTK-
ing services on a nonsectar-
AM (1400 on the AM dial in
ian basis to help people reach a state
Detroit). He also appears on Fox News
of self-sufficiency in accordance with
Channel's The O'Reilly Factor every
the Jewish values of equal opportu-
Wednesday night.
nity, compassion and responsibility.
General tickets: $45-$75; VIP tick-
Miller, 53, a Pittsburgh native, is
ets: $150-$500. Information: (248)
a former janitor, ice-cream scooper
233-4225 or www.jvsdet.org .
and delicatessen worker who – with
his trademark sharp comedic take
- Bill Carroll

JN: Speaking of young

comedians, do you have
any favorites?
JM: Some of them are bril-
liant, but I can't remem-
ber their names. I never
get friendly with other
comedians because most
of them are bitter people.
They pray for your jokes
not to be funny.

Jackie Mason: "I will not impose one modicum of self-

censorship."

JN: In view of the Imus controversy, will

you change your act? After all, you create
stereotyped depictions of many groups,
especially Jews.
JM: I wouldn't even consider it for a sec-
ond. And I will not impose one modicum
of self-censorship. The Jewish comedians
just have to practice common sense, and
we will be all right. There's nothing wrong
with Don Rickles' material — he never
destroyed or killed anyone, and neither
did Imus. In fact, I sense a backlash of
support for Imus in many places.

JN: How far can Jewish comedians push

the envelope now?
JM: Jewish comics will just have to be
smarter and think more before they talk,
but we're not going to cave in and let the
PC [political correctness] police get us. I
will continue to speak out on social and
topical issues and poke fun at how the
Jews and gentiles live.

JN: What can we expect to

see and hear in your act at
Andiamo this weekend?
Will you have a lot of new material or
reprise bits from your recent one-man
shows on Broadway?
JM: Everyone is always worried whether
I'll have new material. Of course, I will.
I always keep up with the times and use
topical humor. I never repeat my old stuff.
I can't even come out and say hello with-
out someone saying,`Hey, he said hello
once before! I can't even wear old shoes
without someone saying, 'Hey, he wore
those shoes in his act before! Don't worry;
it'll be a great show.

JN: How is your new book selling? And

why do you pick on dead people, like
Jeannette Rankin?
JM: Sales are increasing steadily each
week, and we're moving up slowly on the
New York Times Best Seller List. Raoul and
I each wrote parts of it. Rankin's name
will live in infamy because she was the
only member of Congress to vote against
declaring war on Japan after the Pearl
Harbor attack. Another example of a dead

JN: You've been known to use a Yiddish

word or two in your act. But today, only 1
million Jews speak Yiddish compared with

Jackie Mason on page 42

June 14 • 2007

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