Posted on 10/26/2021 2:54:57 PM PDT by Borges
Mort Sahl, who confronted Eisenhower-era cultural complacency with acid stage monologues, delivering biting social commentary in the guise of a stand-up comedian and thus changing the nature of both stand-up comedy and social commentary, died on Tuesday at his home in Mill Valley, Calif., near San Francisco. He was 94.
The death was confirmed by Lucy Mercer, a friend helping oversee his affairs.
Gregarious and contentious — he was once described as “a very likable guy who makes ex-friends easily” — Mr. Sahl had a long, up-and-down career. He faded out of popularity in the mid-1960s, when he devoted his time to ridiculing the Warren Commission report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; then, over the following decades, he occasionally faded back in. But before that, he was a star and a cult hero of the intelligentsia.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“If someone were to ask me for a short cut to sensuality, I would suggest he go shopping for a used 427 Shelby-Cobra. But it is only fair to warn you that of the 300 guys who switched to them in 1966, only two went back to women.”
― Mort Sahl
IIRC, he invented reading the newspaper and delivering witty commentary.
Funny smart biting political humor.
Long gone in America.
Mort Sahl was funny and witty and could make you laugh—unlike today’s angry, woke, and thoroughly unfunny “comedians’ such as Steve Colbert.
I thought he died a few months ago.
Somebody died!
I wouldn’t mind having one. Probably a bit pricey, though.
Along with Mel Ott, Erma Bombeck, and Bert Lahr, Mort Sahl will live forever in the pages of crossword puzzle magazines.
I wouldn’t mind having one. Probably a bit pricey, though.
Much like women.
I thought He died a long time ago
Ha!
RIP.
Seems fitting Sahl would die just as comedy is dying, too…
This is not the Lucy Mercer who was FDR’s girlfriend (that one died in 1948).
/sh*t
Had no idea this man was still alive. RIP!
Most likely that meant that Sahl saved his most vicious comedy for Conservatives. Curiously, I do not recall ever seeing Sahl on TV, which is odd, because I have been passionately political for my entire life.
Shelley Berman was another comedian from Sahl's generation.
I looked up Berman to see what year he died - 2017.
I listened to Shelley Berman and Bill Cosby night club records many times through out the 1960s.
Berman, Sahl, and Cosby have a remarkable academic history.
Berman - Bachelor of Fine Arts - Art Institute of Chicago - taught Humor Writing at University of Southern California for twenty years.
Sahl - Bachelor of Science - University of Southern California - accepted by USC Masters program, but dropped out to start acting and writing.
Bill Cosby - M.A. and Ed.D from UMass Amherst.
Maybe you’re thinking of Jackie Mason. He died in July..
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