Jackie Mason: Freshly Squeezed reviews

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 10:26pm

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

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


Broadway.com review

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 10:36pm

How does this guy keep getting backing? I mean, the critics just roast him time after time, and each show seems to close faster than the one before. I guess the costs of a one-man show are low...

Updated On: 3/23/05 at 10:36 PM

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 10:40pm

I have no idea. His shows are always terrible.

[Razz77]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 10:41pm

I'm just confused on where he gets his audience -- besides old jewish women...Even theatre people don't seem to take much interest in seeing the Jackie Mason shows...this is the one show on Broadway that I geniuinely have no intention or desire to see...

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 10:45pm

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


AP Review

[RadioTV2]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 10:49pm

"Mason Delights in Broadway Return"- AP

WOW- great review

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 10:49pm

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

[Matt_G]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 10:51pm

I still can't understand how he got the money to put this show on after that DISASTER of a show, LAUGHING ROOM ONLY.

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 11:06pm

damn is it that bad?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 11:59pm

Can't wait for NYT's...do you think Brantley will even bother with this one, or will he send Isherwood or Jesse?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 3:56am

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

[bjivie2]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 4:19am

Yeah, I was going to start a thread asking how this guy gets money for his shows. They all flop. Period. Why can we get a solo show from Jackie Mason every year, but shows like BARE are in limbo? (wow, that example makes me look like a BARE freak... oh well)

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:25am

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


Borscht For Gourmets

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:25am

The show is actually recorded legally & is available on DVD @ Footlight Records

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:30am

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

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:42am

Newsday is mixed-to-positive


Newsday Review

[JakeB]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:58am

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..

[RentLondon]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 7:14am

Im not sure which planet you people are living on "all his shows flop" where do you get that from. Laughing Room Only flopped thats it..

Jackie is one of Broadway's biggest stars, granted he dosnt have people rolling in the isles laughing like he used to but he new material is still funny and it will keep is army of fans happy....

Go and see this new show

[Corine2]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 8:10am

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

[BrightLights]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 11:16am

I've been wondering that myself, but he's obviously got a following and he pleases a lot of people. I'm thinking it's not just geriatic types who like him. Or admit to it.