Jackie Mason Brings Laughs to Heights

Some people would be long retired by 74.  Jackie Mason is not one of those people.

The Emmy and Tony award winning comedian performed on Saturday, Dec. 18 at Bananas Comedy Club at the Holiday Inn in Hasbrouck Heights.  

Mason was trying out jokes so new, that he had to keep a paper out to prompt himself.  In fact, Mason comes to Bananas specifically for this purpose a couple times a year.  As he himself pointed out, "you can't tell an old Jew an old joke."

Jackie Mason's comedy is not for everybody.  He peppers his jokes with quite a large dose of Yiddish words and phrases, and more than one of his comments will be lost on anyone not of the Jewish faith.  

And to some degree, if you are under the age of 50.  There were jokes that were clearly aimed at an older audience, and they were largely appreciated.  Though even Mason admitted that some of his new material was less great than he had hoped it would be.

Jackie Mason has had some controversial moments throughout his 40-year career over remarks about former-New York City Mayor David Dinkins, for example, and more recently President Barack Obama.

And on this night he had a long portion of his routine that focused on the President that were somewhat off-color. Though one of the funniest lines for the evening was when he said that President Obama "has more Jews in his Cabinet than Netanyahu."  Just in case that joke lost you – Benjamin Netanyahu is the Prime Minister of Israel.

Jackie Mason has performed on stage, television and film.  He won an Emmy for his guest voice role on "The Simpsons" as Rabbi Hyman Krustofski, father of Krusty the Clown.  And of course, this was life imitating art, as Mason came from a long line of Rabbis, and was himself ordained as a Rabbi before turning to comedy.

The audience was appreciative of his act although not all the material featured here may be part of his 2011 tour as the show at Banana's was a chance for him to give his latest stuff a dry run.