I savored meeting Mort Sahl on Sunday and greatly enjoyed his performance at Jimmy Tingle’s in Davis Square, Somerville. At 80, Sahl hasn’t lost much of the crispness of his delivery or potency of his message.
I’m on something of quest these days to experience the wisdom of the final life stages of great artists and influencers such as Mort Sahl. I won’t be able to see Kirk Douglas (90) at the Harvard Club next week, but I intend to enjoy a Les Paul (92) performance at New York’s Iridium this fall. What great contributions these men have made and continue to make to our lives. Yet, how sad it is that most people likely believe they are no longer alive, let alone still performing.
As has been said many times, Sahl certainly upholds the traditions of Mark Twain, Jonathan Swift and Will Rogers in speaking truth to power and exposing the too-often pathetic nature of politics and politicians. He is featured in the latest Vanity Fair in which writer James Wolcott dares to profess an admiration for Sahl over Lenny Bruce. Me too. I respect Lenny Bruce in some ways - not all - but greatly prefer what Wolcott calls Sahl’s “snarky sophistication.” Where Bruce chose heroin, obscenity and self-indulgence to express his anger, Sahl effectively uses conversation, jazz riffs and storytelling.
Sahl in 1956 with Frank, George Jessel and Dino. Photo © 1978 David Sutton/MPTV.net.
Sahl broke into an exploding stand-up comedy scene in the early ‘50s, debuting at San Francisco’s legendary hungry i. This was also the era when Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Jonathan Winters, Dick Gregory and so many other relevant comedians were starting, soon followed by Woody Allen, George Carlin, Bob Newhart, Richard Pryor and David Steinberg. Sahl was a liberal Kennedy loyalist and speechwriter who subsequently fell out of sorts with the clan when Jack and Bobby became exquisite grist for his pepper mill. They almost succeeded in destroying his career, too. Oddly, Sahl later became so obsessed with JFK’s assassination that he actually joined District Attorney Jim Garrison’s investigating team in New Orleans.
Sahl and others worry about the state of intelligent stand-up comedy these days. Wolcott writes that the audience’s frame of reference has shrunk so much that fewer and fewer people today seem to “get” the more sophisticated jokes. Yesterday’s show was a success, no doubt, but I had this dread sense on several occasions that people were missing Sahl’s insights and humor. Inexplicably, Sahl supported the 1988 Presidential candidacy of his friend, Al Haig. He told some Haig stories yesterday, along with cracks about other friends such as Woody Allen, Frank Sinatra and Adlai Stevenson. At one point, the woman next to me leaned over to her friend and asked, “Who’s this Haig guy?”
Where are the Mort Sahl's today? Bill Maher, maybe? Well, let's start with Mort Sahl who is still very much alive and kicking. As he always says, onward.
I’m on something of quest these days to experience the wisdom of the final life stages of great artists and influencers such as Mort Sahl. I won’t be able to see Kirk Douglas (90) at the Harvard Club next week, but I intend to enjoy a Les Paul (92) performance at New York’s Iridium this fall. What great contributions these men have made and continue to make to our lives. Yet, how sad it is that most people likely believe they are no longer alive, let alone still performing.
As has been said many times, Sahl certainly upholds the traditions of Mark Twain, Jonathan Swift and Will Rogers in speaking truth to power and exposing the too-often pathetic nature of politics and politicians. He is featured in the latest Vanity Fair in which writer James Wolcott dares to profess an admiration for Sahl over Lenny Bruce. Me too. I respect Lenny Bruce in some ways - not all - but greatly prefer what Wolcott calls Sahl’s “snarky sophistication.” Where Bruce chose heroin, obscenity and self-indulgence to express his anger, Sahl effectively uses conversation, jazz riffs and storytelling.
Sahl in 1956 with Frank, George Jessel and Dino. Photo © 1978 David Sutton/MPTV.net.Sahl broke into an exploding stand-up comedy scene in the early ‘50s, debuting at San Francisco’s legendary hungry i. This was also the era when Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Jonathan Winters, Dick Gregory and so many other relevant comedians were starting, soon followed by Woody Allen, George Carlin, Bob Newhart, Richard Pryor and David Steinberg. Sahl was a liberal Kennedy loyalist and speechwriter who subsequently fell out of sorts with the clan when Jack and Bobby became exquisite grist for his pepper mill. They almost succeeded in destroying his career, too. Oddly, Sahl later became so obsessed with JFK’s assassination that he actually joined District Attorney Jim Garrison’s investigating team in New Orleans.
Sahl and others worry about the state of intelligent stand-up comedy these days. Wolcott writes that the audience’s frame of reference has shrunk so much that fewer and fewer people today seem to “get” the more sophisticated jokes. Yesterday’s show was a success, no doubt, but I had this dread sense on several occasions that people were missing Sahl’s insights and humor. Inexplicably, Sahl supported the 1988 Presidential candidacy of his friend, Al Haig. He told some Haig stories yesterday, along with cracks about other friends such as Woody Allen, Frank Sinatra and Adlai Stevenson. At one point, the woman next to me leaned over to her friend and asked, “Who’s this Haig guy?”
Where are the Mort Sahl's today? Bill Maher, maybe? Well, let's start with Mort Sahl who is still very much alive and kicking. As he always says, onward.