Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed reviews

Margo must be at the theatre, so I'll start the review thread.

Broadway.com is up; mixed-to-negative:


Broadway.com review

I have no idea. His shows are always terrible.

A surprise---A mostly positive review from the Associated Press.


AP Review

I LOVE Jackie Mason. He's the funniest living comic, imo.

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damn is it that bad?

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Brantley didn't bother. He sent Isherwood. I guess one could call this a positive review ..... sorta, if Mason and his schtick are already to your liking:

"Mr. Mason is so solicitous of his audiences' comfort, in fact, that he has sometimes shown a reluctance to affront them with any new jokes. "Freshly Squeezed" can be seen as a departure of sorts: it's being promoted as a feast of exclusively new material.

This is not false advertising. When Mr. Mason launches into his naughty mimicry of an incomprehensible Indian man, he's impersonating a doctor, for once, and not a taxi driver. This is progress! He has also retired from action the well-worn routines about the differences between Jews and gentiles. (Dare I confess I missed them?)

But the new material doesn't quite put Mr. Mason at the cutting edge of today's comedy. He devotes a long routine to the popularity of the Atkins diet and its many brethren, a well-trodden comic path. It's already late for gags about "The Gates," too. (Mr. Mason didn't care for them, imagining the architects of Central Park expressing satisfaction with their achievement, save for a nagging quibble: "Where can we put an orange curtain?") Other subjects: how boring the Oscars are, the ludicrous prices of room service, spurious lawsuits, President Bush's unfriendly relations with the English language, John Kerry in general.

But it's Mr. Mason's style and not his material that matters. The intensity of his fans' enjoyment doesn't really correspond to the sharpness or freshness of his observations. For them, Jackie Mason is funny; he doesn't have to act funny. Mr. Mason has so cunningly manufactured and marketed his dyspeptic comic persona - the herky-jerky movements used to embellish the routines, the voice that's like a sinus infection with a bad back - that he may soon be able to refine all actual jokes out of his act, and still slay 'em. That's chutzpah."
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2005/03/24/theater/reviews/24maso.html

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Here's Kissel's mostly positive review from the Daily News


Borscht For Gourmets

Two-and-a-Half stars from Clive Barnes
New York Post Review

bjivie2, you're answering your own question. SOLO show versus BARE. Solo, one person. Writer, director, star, one person. Payroll? About 25 people. BARE, a payroll of about 80..

I have to say that years ago when i saw the first show, I thought he was funny. I also liked his show a year before Laughing Room Only. But Laughing Room only was one of the most boring and offensive shows i have had to sit through.
I saw it on Thanksgiving and all i could think about was how thankful i was when it ended.
OY.
I don't really have any desire to see this show. Unless they are comped and even then i am not sure i could sit through it again.
His humor can be appealing but at times appalling. Jews seem to be his target audience.

Updated On: 3/24/05 at 08:10 AM