Photo: PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Jackie Mason has died.
The comedian’s friend Raoul Felder confirmed Mason died Saturday at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. He was 93.
“He died peacefully with several close friends and family at his side,” he toldCNN.
Mason had been in the hospital for more than three weeks after being admitted for lung inflammation, Felder toldTMZ. The veteran jokester had been battling health issues for the last few years.
Al Jean, a writer forThe Simpsonsfor 32 years, paid tribute to Mason with a tweet featuring an image of the comedian’s rabbi character from his 1991 cameo on the hit series.
“I feel like Krusty,“Jean wrote. “We will very much miss Jackie Mason.”
Gilbert Gottfried also took to Twitter tohonor his late friend: “One of the best. RIP Jackie Mason.”
Henry Winklerchimed in as well, calling his one-man act on Broadway, “Truly one of the funniest shows I have ever seen.”
“Thank you Jackie and now you get to make heaven laugh,“he wrote.
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Michelle Collins paid homage to the man that had an incredible influence on her life with a thoughtful tweet.
“If you know me then you know my mother once dated Jackie Mason, my father was a part-time Jackie Mason impersonator, and I did my own impression for the man himself at a Miami deli when I was 6. One of the funniest comedians of all time, the bastion of Jewish comedy. #RIP👑,“Collins said.
Mason’s big break came in 1960 when he made his first national television appearance onThe Steve Allen Show. He regularly appeared onThe Ed Sullivan Showthroughout the ’60s and released his first record — entitledI’m the Greatest Comedian in the World, Only Nobody Knows It Yet— in 1962.
Mason was banned from the show as a result of the incident. However, he returned to the show in 1968, where he apologized for the incident during his monologue.
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One of Mason’s biggest feats in life was his success on Broadway. His one-man shows were a hit with both fans and critics and earned him several accolades.
Mason’s 1987 actThe World According to Me!won four awards: an Emmy, a Special Tony Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and an Ace Award. It was nominated for a Grammy as well.
In 1992, Mason won a Primetime Emmy Award for his voice work as Rabbi Hyman Krustofski in “Like Father, Like Clown” from season 3 ofThe Simpsons. He voiced the character for seven additional episodes before the character was killed off. Mason continued his circuit of one-man shows through 2012 when he performed his final program entitledJackie Mason: Fearless.
source: people.com
