OBITUARY
Pioneer comedian Mort Sahl has died at 94.
Many consider him to have been the first modern stand up.
While Lenny Bruce was the Big Bang Elvis of modern stand up comedy, Mort Sahl who was born one year after Lenny Bruce was notable first by a few years.
Sahl was the first comedian to do stand up based on political satire and discussion. He was clean but acerbic but never raw like Lenny Bruce. And he did not drift as deeply into social issues and sex and taboo subjects as did Bruce who formed an alloy of honesty and a more brutal in compromising no holds barred and sometimes profane form of satire which included sketches which Sahl did not do.
Sahl’s focus was much more of an examination of the political institutions and current events. Most importantly he was the first to do this for laughs and he is an icon for what he popularized.
He was a true pioneer and originator of the new form of stand up comedy that avoided the drum roll and rim shot of the vaudevillians and one liners.
A big loss.
10/27/2021 11:32 AM (edited)