He's a sharp piece of Masonry

10 April 2012

Jackie Mason's regular London residencies usually coincide with a dietary domestic crisis. BSE, salmonella and ecoli have all previously welcomed him. People, he observes, were nipping to Germany for a sandwich.

This time he faced an international crisis, but responded philosophically. After a defiant overture of New York, New York, he delivered a banquet of gags with a side order of Yiddish that provided the perfect escape valve for any terrorist-related tension.

Mason prides himself on being a topical comedian, so he does address the issue. Tony Blair behaves as if he wants to rule the world. George Bush behaves as if he can't believe he landed the job in America and can barely complete a sentence without referring to notes. For someone who talks as if he is permanently chewing a bagel, Mason is harsh on people who can't speak clearly. His shoulder-shrugging impressions of Churchill and and Kissinger are accurate and grotesque.

This former rabbi is more acidic than Hassidic. His forte is a Swiftian debunking of the powerful, closely followed by thoughts on being Jewish and his other magnificent obsession - that the more you pay the less value you get. A 4X4 is just an overpriced truck. Four-dollar restaurants serve bigger portions than $400 joints. Only a schmuck would eat a snail, but call it an escargot and they will pay handsomely for the privilege.

If you've never seen Mason this is essential viewing. If you've seen him before it may be more a case of deja viewing. Perhaps it is called The Millennium Show because some of the best jokes date from the last millennium. Reflections on the current White House incumbent enable Mason to revive gags about old ones, while designer coffee bars have become a perpetual bone of contention.

He may recycle old oneliners, but they are great one-liners. Ariel Sharon wants to return the West Bank, but he can't because it is in his wife's name. Mason may have been coasting at times - and no encore seemed mean - but this critic would rather have Mason coasting than most comedians sweating blood.

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