| Mort Sahl | |
|---|---|
 Sahl in 1960 | |
| Birth name | Morton Lyon Sahl |
| Born | May 11, 1927 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | October 26, 2021 (aged 94) Mill Valley, California, U.S. |
| Medium | Stand-up, television |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California |
| Years active | 1950–2020 |
| Genres | Political satire, improvisational comedy |
| Subject(s) | American politics, American culture |
| Spouse |
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Morton Lyon Sahl (May 11, 1927 – October 26, 2021) was a Canadian-born Jewish American comedian, actor, and social satirist, considered the first modern comedian.[1][2] He pioneered a style of social satire that pokes fun at political and current event topics using improvised monologues and only a newspaper as a prop.
Sahl spent his early years in Los Angeles and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he made his professional stage debut at the hungry i nightclub in 1953.[3] His popularity grew quickly, and after a year at the club, he traveled the country doing shows at established nightclubs, theaters, and college campuses. In 1960 he became the first comedian to be featured in a Time cover story. He appeared on various television shows, played a number of film roles, and performed a one-man show on Broadway.
Television host Steve Allen said that Sahl was "the only real political philosopher we have in modern comedy". His social satire performances broke new ground in live entertainment, as a stand-up comic talking about the real world of politics at that time was considered "revolutionary". It inspired many later comics to become stage comedians, including Lenny Bruce, Jonathan Winters, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lewis Black and Woody Allen. Allen credits Sahl's new style of humor with "opening up vistas for people like me".[4]: 545
Numerous politicians became his fans, with John F. Kennedy asking him to write his jokes for campaign speeches, though Sahl later turned his barbs at the president. After Kennedy's assassination in 1963, Sahl focused on what he said were the Warren Report's inaccuracies and conclusions and spoke about it often during his shows. This alienated much of his audience and led to a decline in his popularity for the remainder of the 1960s. By the 1970s, his shows and popularity staged a partial comeback that continued over the ensuing decades.[5] A biography of Sahl, Last Man Standing, by James Curtis, was released in 2017.[6]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Weidewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Timewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Hyman, Jackie (July 12, 1983). "Comedian still shooting political barbs". The Daily News. Bowling Green, Kentucky. Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Nachmanwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Hopper, Tristan (May 25, 2015). "Mort Sahl invented stand-up comedy – so what's he doing at a community theatre in Northern California?". National Post. Toronto. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
- ^ Larsen, Peter (June 2, 2017). "Comedian Mort Sahl and biographer James Curtis talk about 'Last Man Standing,' the story of Sahl's fearless, funny life". Orange County Register. Irvine. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2023.