"I got banned from the Ed Sullivan Show for less!"
"I got banned from the Ed Sullivan Show for less!"
On the October 18, 1964 installment of THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, as comedian Jackie Mason concluded his comedy routine he noticed some off-stage finger gestures from Ed Sullivan's indicating that his time was winding down. According to Mason, he jokingly took the moment to comment on the signs by saying "and here's a finger for you, and one for you..." Ed Sullivan thought that the glib finger joke reference was actually a case of Jackie Mason giving him the "finger" on-the-air. Outraged, Ed Sullivan barred Jackie Mason from any further appearances on his program. The controversy over the "finger" damaged Mason's career. He retaliated with a libel suit in the New York Supreme Court and won. They had viewed his performance and found "nothing offensive." However, the influence that Sullivan possessed relegated Jackie Mason to "show-business-limbo" forcing him to work in outlying Catskill mountain resorts and related second-hand entertainment establishment. Years later, Jackie Mason resurfaced in a successful Broadway Tony Award winning one-man show and in the short-lived sitcom CHICKEN SOUP/ABC/1989.