Mort Sahl
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Image:Timemortsahl.jpg Morton Lyon Sahl (born May 11, 1927) is a Montreal-born, Jewish actor/comedian/humorist credited with pioneering a style of stand-up comedy that paved the way for Lenny Bruce, Nichols & May, Dick Gregory, and others less famous. He also wrote some speeches for John F. Kennedy.
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Life and career
His father was a court reporter and then became an FBI Administrator.
His family moved out to Los Angeles, California and when he was a young man joined the ROTC. Mort was drafted into the US Air Force and served at an Air Force Base in Alaska. After he left the USAF, he graduated from University of Southern California in 1950 with majors in traffic engineering and city management. After almost going broke, he began to do stand up comedy at The Hungry i in San Francisco where his vicious audience threw peanuts and pennies at him.
His humor was and remains based on current events, particularly politics, drawing many of his monologues from the day's newspaper headlines. His trademark gimmick was appearing on stage with a newspaper in hand, casually dressed in a pullover sweater.
After his friend became President, Sahl began to crack Kennedy jokes that were critical of his policies. Ed Sullivan refused to let him tell his JFK jokes on The Ed Sullivan Show on national televison. As a result, he fell out of the national spotlight for several years.
Following the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1963, Sahl's interest in who was behind it became so great that he became a deputized member of the team that District Attorney Jim Garrison created to investigate the assassination. As a result of this pursuit, Sahl's comedy took a back seat to his politics; his act started including readings and commentary on the Warren Commission Report. Between his anti-Kennedy jokes and his tantrums onstage against the Warren Commission, he alienated his audience. Due to blacklisting, his shows were cancelled, he was ignored and his income dropped down to $19,000 a year. However, the rising tide of counterculture in America fuelled his comeback to the stage and TV.
Sahl was married to Playboy Playmate China Lee until 1991.
During the 1980s, Sahl made many hard hitting jokes critical about his old friend President Ronald Reagan. Mort and China were then invited to visit the White House by Nancy Reagan, where Reagan then awarded and roasted Mort at a White House Gala/tribute in front of most of the other comedians. Mort told TV Interviewer Charlie Rose, "They are very, very forgiving."
In the 1988 presidential election, Sahl was the most prominent supporter of unsuccessful candidate Alexander Haig. [1]
His 19 year-old son, Mort Sahl Jr., passed away March 27, 1996. On his way to the funeral he met Delta Air Lines flight attendant Kenslea Sahl. They married in 1999.
Mort is listed #40 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all time.
In an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the 1970s, Sahl told Johnny this story: He said one time he was flying on Air Force One during the Kennedy years, when they hit a pocket of rough turbulence. JFK said to Mort, 'You know, if this plane crashed, we would probably all be killed, wouldn't we?' Sahl responded, 'Yes, Mr. President.' To which JFK then said, 'And it occurs to me that your name would be in very small print!'"
Quotes
About his ideology, "I'm not a Liberal, I'm a Radical!"
About Liberals and Conservatives, "Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen."
About Politics & Evolution, "There were four million people in the American Colonies and we had Jefferson and Franklin. Now we have over 200 million and the two top guys are Clinton and Dole. What can you draw from this? Darwin was wrong!"
About George W. Bush, "He's the face on the can. But who canned that soup?"
About Richard M. Nixon, "Would you buy a used car from this man?"
About Cosmetic Sugery, "There's so much Botox around now that you can't tell when a Jewish girl is angry!"
About Comedy, "It has changed. It isn't funny anymore!"
To Otto Preminger about his film Exodus, "Otto - let my people go" (reputed - referring to its 220 minute length)
Asked his motto: "If you can't join them, beat them."
Spouses
Sue Babior (1955 - 1958)
China Lee (1967 - 1996?)
Kenslea Sahl (1997 - ?)
Film Career
Partial Filmography
- Jonathan Winters: On the Ledge (1987) (TV) .... Interviewer
- Nothing Lasts Forever (1984) .... Uncle Mort
- Inside the Third Reich (1982) (TV) .... Werner Finck
- Don't Make Waves (1967) .... Sam Lingonberry
- Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding (1967) .... Dan Ruskin
- Johnny Cool (1963) .... Ben Morrow
- All the Young Men (1960) .... Cpl. Crane
- In Love and War (1958) .... Danny Krieger
External links
- The longrunning (since 1997) Mort Sahl site
- Mort Sahl at IMDB
- Image of Mort & Kenslea Sahl
- PBS American Masters biography
- Interview with Sahl on Fresh Air
- Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition, from the website of Robert B. Weide
- {{{2|{{{name|Mort Sahl}}}}}} at The Internet Movie DatabaseTemplate:Comedian-stub
