Jackie Mason

Why don't we just keep beating the horse? Isn't it enough that we have already rewritten the English language in attempt not to offend anyone? The "politically correct" attitude that is sweeping our nation has gotten out of hand. I often find myself hesitating in a conversation to make sure that my dialect is non-offensive to the one I am addressing. Reading "Jackie Mason: Mining the 'Politically Incorrect' " (Nov. 22), I was shocked. Mason was feeling heat over referring to New York Mayor David Dinkins as a shvartzer , a Yiddish term for black that some contend is insulting.

Fans of the nation's top television talent showcases -- "American Idol," "America's Got Talent" and "Dancing With the Stars" -- may be shocked to learn that, for 23 years, one television show had the combined impact of those three smash hits. That weekly Sunday night extravaganza, "The Ed Sullivan Show" -- which left the air 40 years ago last month -- regularly created pop idols overnight, introduced unnoticed and unlikely talent, and featured fading stars who needn't dance to justify their presence on the show.

Re "And You Thought You Knew From Guilt?" by Jackie Mason, Commentary, Nov. 1: The suggestion that widespread white support of a black candidate is a function of the electorate's collective guilt is not only absurd, it is demeaning to both the potential candidate and to the voters. To pontificate that "the reason for [Colin] Powell's amazing popularity" is the guilt induced by Powell's race denies the concerns of supporters who are neither impressed nor dissuaded by the fact that Powell is African American.

EVENTS Travel Night at the Zoo The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. presents a free preview of two unique GLAZA-sponsored vacations to Botswana and Peru. Hosted by professional guides, the event focuses on the exploration of each area's exceptional wildlife, plant life and ecosystems. L.A. Zoo, 5333 Zoo Drive. 7 p.m. Free. (323) 644-4200, www.lazoo.org MOVIES Tom Gunning and Thomas Demand The common language of the image intrinsically links film and photography.

Comedian Jackie Mason has been ordered to pay his former Florida girlfriend $2,000 per month in child support, marking the end of a bitter three-year paternity lawsuit. A Florida court of appeals late Tuesday upheld the monthly paternity award retroactive to the Dec. 15, 1985, birth of Ginger Reiter's daughter, Sheeba.

Jackie Mason feels President Bush is basically a decent man, even if he has trouble completing a sentence. So OK, Mason would say, so speaking English is not Bush's field. "Winston Churchill was the greatest prime minister of all time. No one heard a word he said." Anyone familiar with Mason can hear his inflection in these jokes; it's what has made him beloved to some, a Broadway fixture and an ethnic embarrassment to others.

JEWS are not mechanically inclined, comic Jackie Mason has famously stated in his stand-up routines. Mason himself, however, is not a Luddite. He is a video blogger. His upcoming show, "Jackie Mason: The Ultimate Jew," includes bits on iPhones and Google. And his preferred method of communication for this interview? E-mail. How does the comedian, now in his 70s, remain so current? "I work constantly," he states.

Comedian Jackie Mason was dropped Wednesday as a high-profile advocate for Republican mayoral nominee Rudolph W. Giuliani after telling the Village Voice that Jews are voting for Democrat David N. Dinkins out of guilt and that Dinkins "looks like a black model without a job." The comments in an interview published Wednesday caused an immediate uproar by directly raising the issue of Dinkins' race in a way that Giuliani has avoided.

Comedian Jackie Mason once set a dubious Broadway record with his "A Teaspoon Every Four Hours." It ran 99 previews and one performance, after which he said, bitterly, "The critics were waiting for me: 'Who is this gross Jew from the mountains, he doesn't belong on Broadway.' " It's the wounded animal that strikes the lethal blow. Mason has healed enough to try another show, "The World According to Me" (which opened Thursday at the Las Palmas).

Jackie Mason set himself a tall order when, in "Jackie Mason Brand New," which opened Wednesday at the Henry Fonda Theatre, he promised a show that would consist of completely new material. With the exception of a solitary joke having to do with guarding your health while your grandfather steals your money, he's succeeded, even if it's deja vu all over again.

Incivility is the new secondhand smoke. Everyone feels impelled to disdain it, but nobody is willing to do away with it entirely. Besides, it's profitable. Look at South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson. Two weeks ago, he was just a loudmouth with the bad taste to shout an insult at the president of the United States from the House floor. Since then, he's become a right-wing darling, and $2 million in new campaign contributions have flowed his way. Incivility apparently cuts both ways, though; his Democratic challenger has taken in more than $1.5 million.

Periodically during "Jackie Mason: The Ultimate Jew," which ends its limited run at the Wadsworth Theatre on Sunday, the term "politically correct" comes up. It elicits guffaws -- and why not? This nonpareil stand-up comic, who can draw snorts with a raised eyebrow, gives political correctness an ironic Bronx cheer. After many decades in show business, Mason has raised the kvetch to an art form, and "The Ultimate Jew" maintains his blithely cantankerous average. Subtitled "The Farewell Performances," Mason's latest rambling commentary hits New York on March 18, where it will surely land like gangbusters.

JEWS are not mechanically inclined, comic Jackie Mason has famously stated in his stand-up routines. Mason himself, however, is not a Luddite. He is a video blogger. His upcoming show, "Jackie Mason: The Ultimate Jew," includes bits on iPhones and Google. And his preferred method of communication for this interview? E-mail. How does the comedian, now in his 70s, remain so current? "I work constantly," he states.

JAY LENO: Our first guest tonight is an Oscar-winning actor and director. Please welcome Mr. Mel Gibson. (Applause as Mel walks out, waves, shakes Jay's hand and sits) Jay: Thanks for being here. Mel: Thank you for having me. Jay: That's an interesting suit you're wearing. What is that, like, an old prison uniform? Mel: That's right. This is a replica of a uniform worn by inmates at Auschwitz. Jay: Auschwitz. Like, the concentration camp in Poland during World War II. Mel: That's right.

RE "Satire, Right -- But Comics' Punch Lines Veer to the Left," by Barbara Serrano, May 29: I find this another example of misguided lefties trying to sell their ideology. It hasn't worked on Air America, or anywhere else. With the exception of Bob Hope and Jackie Mason, every comedian I can think of is liberal, or "progressive." But they are successful comedians because their focus is on funny, not socialism, white-bashing and promoting homosexuality. This "Laughing Liberally" troupe will not convert any "heartland" audiences to their agenda.

Jackie Mason feels President Bush is basically a decent man, even if he has trouble completing a sentence. So OK, Mason would say, so speaking English is not Bush's field. "Winston Churchill was the greatest prime minister of all time. No one heard a word he said." Anyone familiar with Mason can hear his inflection in these jokes; it's what has made him beloved to some, a Broadway fixture and an ethnic embarrassment to others.

Jackie Mason--that rabbi-turned-comedian who delivers side-splitters such as, "You show a Gentile carrots and peas and he eats carrots and peas. You show a Jew carrots and peas and he says: 'Wait a minute, why are there so many carrots compared to the peas?' "--will bring his Broadway show to the Orange County Performing Arts Center on June 12 to benefit the Jewish Senior Center of Orange County.

We are supposed to have feelings about Jackie Mason. Big-time feelings. We're meant to be offended by his bigotry, or to squeal "can-he-get-away-with-that?" guilty laughs at his stereotypes, or--more noble at Broadway prices--to embrace his honesty as a tonic to purge our hypocritical times with ruthless candor. Even the title of his newest Broadway show, "Jackie Mason: Politically Incorrect," is chosen to dunk our pigtails in the inkwells of self-righteousness.

Movies Steven Soderbergh downsizes in both budget and scope with the run-and-gun, digital-video feature "Full Frontal." Based on Coleman Hough's play, it's a movie about movies with a sexual roundelay featuring David Duchovny, Catherine Keener, and, above, Blair Underwood and Julia Roberts. The film opens Friday. Also: Strange circles appear in former minister Mel Gibson's cornfield, as well as other places around the world, raising fears about extraterrestrials.

Trying to have a conversation with Jackie Mason is roughly the equivalent of sticking out your foot to stop a runaway train. In the course of a two-hour lunch, the comic compares President Clinton to Adolf Hitler, insists his Jewish vs. Gentile world view is as relevant today as it ever was, and calls you a "sick bastard" any time you beg to disagree.