Mort Sahl
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| Mort Sahl | |
 Sahl on the cover of Time Magazine, August 15, 1960 |
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| Born: | May 11, 1927 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
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| Medium: | Stand-up, film |
| Nationality: |  American |
| Years active: | 1953 - Present |
| Genres: | Satire (social/cultural), Improvisational comedy |
| Subjects: | American politics, American culture |
| Influences: | Will Rogers |
| Influenced: | Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Woody Allen, Chris Rock, Jay Leno |
| Notable works and roles: | Mort Sahl at the hungry i |
| Website: | www.mortsahl.com |
Morton Lyon Sahl (born May 11, 1927 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is an American comedian and actor. He is credited with pioneering a style of stand-up comedy that paved the way for Lenny Bruce, Nichols & May and Dick Gregory. He also wrote speeches for John F. Kennedy.
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[edit] Life and career
Sahl's father was an FBI Administrator. The family moved to Los Angeles, California.
As a young man, Sahl joined the ROTC. He 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. He began performing stand up comedy at Enrico Banducci's hungry i nightclub in San Francisco, where his 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 was appearing on stage with a newspaper in hand, casually dressed in a pullover sweater.
After his friend John F. Kennedy became President, Sahl began to make jokes that were critical of Kennedy's policies. Ed Sullivan refused to let him tell any JFK jokes on The Ed Sullivan Show on national television. As a result, Sahl fell out of the national spotlight for several years.
Following the Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, Sahl's interest in who was behind it became so great that he became a deputized member of the team that New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison created to investigate the assassination. As a result, 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 much of his audience. Eventually, he was effectively blacklisted when his shows were cancelled. His income dropped to $19,000 a year. However, the rising tide of counterculture fuelled his comeback.
Sahl was married to Playboy Playmate China Lee, until their divorce in 1991. They had one son.
During the 1980s, Sahl made many jokes critical about his old friend, Ronald Reagan. Sahl and his wife were invited to visit the White House by Nancy Reagan, where President Reagan awarded and roasted him at a White House gala/tribute in front of most of the other top comedians. Sahl said to television interviewer Charlie Rose of the Reagans, "They are very, very forgiving."
In the 1988 presidential election, Sahl was the most prominent supporter of unsuccessful candidate Alexander Haig. [1]
His son, Mort Sahl Jr., died March 27, 1996 at the age of 19. On his way to the funeral, Sahl 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 standup comedians of all time.
Sahl, who is Jewish, was recipient of the Fifth Annual Alan King Award in American Jewish Humor (2003) from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.
[edit] Quotations
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 and 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 Wernher von Braun: "He aimed for the stars and often hit London."
About cosmetic surgery: "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!"
On the House Committee on Un-American Activities: "Every time the Russians throw an American in jail, the Committee throws an American in jail to get even."
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."
"If you maintain a consistent political position long enough, you will eventually be accused of treason." -- From the recording Mort Sahl at the hungry i
[edit] Spouses
- Sue Babior (1955 - 1958)
- China Lee (1967 - 1991)
- Kenslea Sahl (1997 - )
[edit] Filmography
- Looking for Lenny (2008) documentary
- 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
[edit] References
- Alan King Award in American Jewish Humor, accessed 14 September 2006. Includes a video montage of Sahl.
[edit] External links
- The longrunning (since 1997) Mort Sahl site
- Image of Mort & Kenslea Sahl
- PBS American Masters biography
- Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition, from the website of Robert B. Weide
- Mort Sahl at the Internet Movie Database
| Preceded by Bob Hope, Jack Lemmon, David Niven, Rosalind Russell, and James Stewart 30th Academy Awards |
Oscars host 31st Academy Awards (with Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, David Niven, Laurence Olivier, and Tony Randall) |
Succeeded by Bob Hope 32nd Academy Awards |
