Last Man Standing: Mort Sahl and the Birth of Modern Comedy
When Mort Sahl made his debut at San Francisco's hungry i in December, 1953, the public's idea of stand up comedy was limited to Borscht Belt comedians like Henny Youngman and Morey Amsterdam. Nightclub comics steered clear of hard news, and Bob Hope's occasional political jibes often came off as friendly. Working in an improvisational, jazz-influenced style, Sahl attacked Senator Joseph McCarthy, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and, particularly, Vice President Richard M. Nixon, who was to remain a favorite target for decades.
Sahl recorded the first modern comedy album in 1955, and appeared on the cover of Time in 1960. (The magazine famously described him as "Will Rogers with fangs.") In breaking the mold of what a stand up comedian should look or sound like, he opened the door for an entire generation of "smart" comics that included Lenny Bruce, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Shelley Berman, Bob Newhart, and Dick Gregory.
His career, which extended to TV and movies, spanned 12 presidencies. Appearing on stage in a pullover sweater and open collar, he worked alone, writing all his own material, using a rolled copy of the day's newspaper as his only prop. In the mid-1960s he put his career on the line when he went to work as a volunteer for New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, who was investigating a conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. Mort became such a fervent believer in Garrison's crusade that it took nearly a decade for him to get his career back on track.
Written with Mort Sahl's full cooperation, "Last Man Standing" incorporates interviews with his friends and colleagues, including Woody Allen, Dick Cavett, Shelley Berman, and the late Yvonne Craig. "It wasn't a very puritanical life," he commented, "but it was a whole lot of fun."
University Press of Mississippi
375 pages with 33 black-and-white images
Also available as an eBook and an audio book