Vale: Jackie Mason

Legendary US comedian Jackie Mason, who had a long career in stand-up comedy, has died, aged 93.

He was hospitalised two weeks ago and died at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital on Saturday.

Mason was ordained as a rabbi before turning to show-business in the 1950s

He won numerous awards in his career, including a Tony Award and an Emmy for voicing Krusty the Clown’s father, Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky, on The Simpsons.

Born Yacob Maza in Wisconsin in 1928, Mason and his family moved to New York when he was five.

His father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather had all been rabbis, and after college he was ordained and began leading congregations in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

He would later tell the Chicago Tribune that a lot of non-Jewish people “would come to the congregation just to hear the sermons” because he told so many jokes. Mason turned to comedy full-time after his father died in the late 1950s.

Known for his heavy New York Jewish accent, Mason’s humour was based on pun, innuendo, and sometimes politically incorrect humour.

Film credits included Caddyshack II, The Jerk and Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part I.

In addition to Broadway and tonight shows, he appeared on 30 Rock, Chicken Soup and hosted 1992’s The Jackie Mason Show.

Source: Yahoo