Journalist/Comedian Harmon Leon dives into comedy cult classics, comedic influences, and all things comedy history.
Have you seen The Irishman? There’s a scene where Don Rickles (played by comedian Jim Norton) is performing at the Copacabana for mobster, Crazy Joe Gallo - on the night he was gunned down. The incident is pretty true. And Don Rickles, much like other comedians of that era, had a history of working at clubs owned by the mob.
We jumped into Don Rickles history with the mob - that eventually led him to a role in Scorsese’s Mob film: Casino
The oldest recorded joke in the world - dates back to 2,300 BC. It’s attributed to the Sumerians. Back in those old-timey days - fart jokes were all the rage. Go figure.
In this episode, we dive into several of the world’s oldest jokes - to see what was making ancient people laugh.
From the archives: The history of Moms Mabley, who was the first successful female standup comedian and had a career that spanned over 50 years. Moms bridged the gap between vaudeville and modern stand up comedy. She was also the first woman comic to play the Apollo theater and Carnegie Hall in 1962.
Moms influenced the style of comedy legends Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Whoopie Goldberg, and Eddie Murphy -who modeled the grandma character in Nutty Professor after her.
