Mort Sahl died last week, October 26th. If you expected a big outpouring, there wasn't one. In fact, you were wrong to expect a lot of coverage from the media on Mort's passing.
First, let's note who Mort was. He was born in Montreal, served in the US Air Force, attempted a career as an actor but ended up a stand-up comedian. His peer group included Woody Allen ("He made the country listen to jokes that required them to think."), Joan Rivers and Jonathan Winters and he did a great deal of commentary on current events and politics. His persona was one of I'm-just-having-a-conversation-with-you. He was a trail blazer and many -- including THE DAILY SHOW and Samantha Bee -- owe a huge debt to him.
John F. Kennedy was a fan and requested material The friendship with President Kennedy is among the reasons Mort didn't receive the kind of coverage he deserved.
He bit the hand that fed him in some minds. In others, he gave JFK the treatment he gave everyone else. In 1976's HEARTLAND, Mort shared that JFK came to see him at the Crescendo Nightclub on Sunset Blvd and Mort told a joke ("I have a bulletin. Marilyn Monroe is going to marry Adlai Stevenson. Now, Kennedy can be jealous of him twice.") which led JFK to slam his fist down and curse.
CRAPAPEDIA -- who else, right? -- lies and tells you that Mort alienated his audience and did so by challenging the official findings in the assassination of JFK.
Lie from a liar.
Mort questioned the official findings all right -- he didn't believe them. Excuse us, like most Americans, he didn't believe them. Like most Americans then and most Americans now, he didn't believe them.
Masses didn't flee his act over that. The media boycotted him to a large degree and ridiculed him when not ignoring him. This is what harmed his career.
The media was part of the blacklisting of Mort.
NPR notes:
He wrote jokes for John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign speeches. After JFK was assassinated, Sahl was convinced the CIA was behind it. He got involved with New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's investigation, trying to prove the conspiracy. After that, Mort Sahl's career began to stall. He recovered somewhat in later years, but he always stood fast to his belief that a satirist should give people the truth.
Mort was able to get bookings even when he was blacklisted. And, for the record, he believed -- and we have no reason not to believe him -- that the CIA was part of the effort to destroy his career.
The media will probably play fresh-faced golly-gee in 2050 as they at last tell the American people that the government killed JFK but there's more reasons for them to ignore Mort.
Mort was a media critic in the 60s and 70s. It's funny how many useless types think they've invented the wheel and never pay tribute to those who came before. Nora Ephron and Mort Sahl were two critics who came along in the second half of the 20th century. Of course, there were many before them. Probably, if we knew the real history of media criticism, it would be harder for us to pretend that we're so exceptional and novel and, most importantly, pretend that the corporate media ever had a golden age. It never did.
Media critic Mort Sahl performed media criticism in his act, on the radio and on TV when he could get booked on TV. Dick Cavett was a brave soul during this period and frequently featured Mort on his late bight talk show. For example, March 13, 1970 Dick opened his show with Jane Fonda and Native American activist Lanada Means, then he brought on the Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey (who took offense to Jane's question of why a brotherhood of man didn't include everyone), then Mort came out and spoke with Dick and Jane, then Peter came out and Mort moved over so Peter could sit next to Jane, then Henry Fonda and Amy Fonda came out to join everyone.
During Mort's time, he talked about the media and the CIA and how the CIA was overthrowing countries and how Tricky Dick Nixon was insisting that the US had no ground forces in Laos but he reads the name of a man who was shot down in a US plane and whose widow told the press her husband was providing protection to US forces in Laos. In addition, he notes what so many can't, which is that the press serves the powerful and always has. He gives an example of a NEW YORK TIMES headline about the sinking of the Titanic "John Jacob Astor and 500 others lost at sea." When Jane brought up that she had just spoken with some students who didn't know what the blacklist under Senator Joe McCarthy was, Mort was able to repeat his well known joke about the blacklist during the McCarthy era, Every time the Russians threw an American in jail, the House Un-American Activities Committee would retaliate by throwing an American in jail too." Jane, for the record, noted that under McCarthy you lost your job but, by 1970, if they didn't like you, they killed you.
He also addressed the overthrow of a government on that show. As he recalled on KPFA to Alan Farley:
I was on THE DICK CAVETT SHOW a few weeks ago. I said on Friday, I picked up THE NEW YORK TIMES. I said this is available to everybody. [Norodom] Sihanouk is going to be deposed in 72 hours. As a matter of fact, it was about 84. and a puppet will arrive, a general, and he will invite us in. We will have access to Cambodia. It'll be presented as a fait accompli to the President. It's his job to explain it to the people. And it's a CIA operation. Anybody who is now blind to the CIA and the generals, I am quite amazed by that.
He never shied from telling the truth; example, Walter Cronkite? "He isn't a reporter at all," he noted. "He was set there (to interview LBJ) because we know, and CBS knows, that he will not expose those people. He's in bed with those people. It's quite ironic."
In 1998, he released the audio recording MORT SAHL'S AMERICA (available on CD at AMAZON) in which he continued telling his truth -- it did not make everyone happy (Robert Redford, we're looking at you).
He was, like Jimmy Dore today, someone who made the hard calls.
And there were those who worked to punish him for it.
Johnny Trash Carson (MeToo should really focus on him and we're not referring to when he picked up Sally Field) had Mort on four times. The last time mere days before Johnny Trash lied on air and attacked guest Jim Garrison. (Trash brought Garrison on to discredit Garrison. That's what NBC wanted Johnny today and he was a toady who did his masters bidding.) But Johnny was done with him (this despite the fact that Mort appeared on 15 episodes of THE TONIGHT SHOW before Johnny Carson took over as host) and Johnny told him that, "You will never be on my show again.".
In fact, let's clear up a lie that a lot of the press insisted upon telling. He did not guest host THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JOHNNY CARSON. He was a guest host before Johnny Carson started hosting THE TONIGHT SHOW (October, 1962). Sloppy writing or just a bunch of liars? We have no idea but we saw one error after another in what passes for remembering Mort.
He could -- and did -- appear on other talk shows. After Johnny had forbidden Mort from ever appearing on the show again, Mort would appear nine times on Dick Cavett's talk show (that's not counting Dick's summer show), he'd appear on Helen Reddy's show, Dinah Shore, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Tom Snyder, David Letterman (on both his NBC and his CBS shows), etc.
They couldn't control him, so they tried to silence him. That's the key sentence that should have been in every obit last week.
