Mort Sahl had a stream-of-consciousness style of humor, and credited jazz as his influence.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: In 1960, Mort Sahl was on the cover of Time magazine for an article called “The New Comedians.” He’s surrounded by balloons with caricatures of politicians – Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy.
BLAIR: Sahl started doing stand-up in the 1950s, a time when most comedians were men in suits rattling off one-liners.
And I stood my ground and told them that I admired their vagabond existence, and I wanted to join them.
Sahl’s satire spared no one – young, old, people on the right and the left – yet he socialized with celebrities and government officials.
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