The American Spectator

home
ADVERTISEMENT
Print Email
Text Size

Buy the Book

Everything Bold Is New Again: An Interview with Jackie Mason

America's greatest living comedian refuses to predict the future -- predicting the present is risky enough.

(Page 2 of 2)

JACKIE MASON: Oh, I'd say we've been working together for about ten years now. Well, how we write varies, I guess. Sometimes he writes and I edit or sometimes we write it side by side if we're at a table together. It depends on how we run into each other. We always make the other guy a partner with whatever we're thinking about. It works out because we almost never have a difference of opinion on practically anything.

BC: I had no idea that you were the favorite comedian of England's royal family. How did that come about?

JACKIE MASON: I really don't how it happened. I just went there and I was a hit. That's the end of it. I got invited to do the Royal Command Performance, and you know the Queen and the whole royal family attend it. On television it's a three-hour entertainment special and I've found that my humor goes over big in London. I like to think that I'm a psychologist but just I can't figure that one out. I regularly sell out more in England than I do in America.

BC: What's the secret of your appeal with younger audiences? I saw you in Detroit back in 2004 and I recall the crowd being fairly mixed age-wise.

JACKIE MASON: Why wouldn't it be? You seem to think I'm 80 or something. Hey, the key is that I'm always relevant. Some of these comedians have nothing to say. They don't have any ideas so it's "F" this and "F" that. They give you a whole series of swear words and it's really just a way for them to get themselves out of trouble when they can't come up with anything. They're irrelevant and ridiculous.

People come to my shows and know that they're going to hear about what's going on in the world -- what's happening at the moment. My material is as new as anything on the dinner table. What difference does it make if I'm 70 or if I'm 20? The audience knows they aren't getting any old stories from me. What difference does a person's age make? I started in the business when I was 22. Besides, it's not as if I'm not going on eHarmony to look for a bride or anything.

Page:   12

topics:
Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Television, Business

About the Author

Bernard Chapin is a writer and psychologist living in Chicago and the author of Escape from Gangsta Island. He is currently at work on a book concerning women.

Letter to the Editor Leave a comment

Leave a Comment

N.B. We encourage readers to share and discuss their thoughtful and relevant comments about this Spectator article. Comments are routinely monitored and will be deleted if profane, bigoted, or grossly impolite. Please be respectful. (And don't feed the trolls!) Thank you.

Related Articles

More Articles by Bernard Chapin

More Articles From Buy the Book

http://spectator.org/archives/2007/04/18/everything-bold-is-new-again-a
ADVERTISEMENT

Clip of the Day

Most Popular Articles

Can Mitt Close the Deal?

Jed Babbin | 2.13.12

Who Castrated Ann Coulter?

David Catron | 2.6.12

Bigoted Barack, Red in Tooth and Clause

George Neumayr | 2.10.12

So Much News, So Little Time

Quin Hillyer | 2.13.12

Bishops Reject Obama's 'Accommodation'

G. Tracy Mehan | 2.13.12

Unsafe at Any Smoke

Eric Peters | 2.10.12

Let's Return to the Gold Standard

George Melloan | 2.13.12

Access This

Ross Kaminsky | 2.10.12

ADVERTISEMENT