The Inspiration of Mort Sahl, Comedy Legend and Social Satirist

Over the past decade, I’ve made more than a few trips up to Mill Valley, Calif.

I didn’t go to experience the beautiful scenery or the fresh air in Northern California. Instead, I went because there was a true treasure hidden up there: comedy legend Mort Sahl, who died on October 26 at the age of 94.

Mort was a father of American comedy, and one of my favorite artists. He was living his golden years in Mill Valley and, even in his ‘90s, would do an hour-long “sit down” comedy show every week at the Throckmorton Theatre. He’d rant about current news stories, take questions from the audience, recount tales about his days writing jokes for speeches for his friend President John F. Kennedy and share anecdotes about his old days in Hollywood, streaming everything on Facebook Live.

Born Morton Lyon Sahl, the comedian got started in the San Francisco scene, where he made a name for himself at the famous “hungry i” nightclub in the 1950’s. The club was home to the coolest acts; comedians that played there attracted a more intellectual crowd, and Mort quickly became the star attraction.

More than a comedian, he was known as a social satirist, and would famously go up on stage with that day’s newspaper under his arm, pull it out while seated on a stool and start reading and riffing off of it in real time.

More than a comedian, he was known as a social satirist, and would famously go up on stage with that day’s newspaper under his arm, pull it out while seated on a stool and start reading and riffing off of it in real time.

Mort became massively popular and would go on to tour the country, appear on late night television and become one the first comedians to get a cover story in Time magazine. Additionally, he acted in a number of films and had his own one-man show on Broadway. Many of the great comedians like Lenny Bruce, Jonathan Winters and Woody Allen cited Mort as one of their biggest influences.

Woody in particular looked up to the man. Even when Mort’s career took a fall after Kennedy’s assassination because Mort became hyper focused on the Warren Report’s inaccuracies, Woody would still sing Mort’s praises and talk publicly about how, if not for Mort, he wouldn’t have thought of stand-up comedy as something worth pursuing.

In fact, Woody himself made me aware of Mort when I was 19. As a young comedian and jazz fan, I would hang around The Carlyle hotel in Manhattan to hear Woody perform with his jazz band on Monday night. On occasion, Woody would spend a few minutes chatting with me and was generous enough to recommend people I should become familiar with both in jazz and in comedy. Mort was high up on his comedy list.

I always loved Mort’s casual conversational style. It inspired me to allow myself to explore the art form as a stand-up comic and not feel constrained to the set up and punchline formula. I loved the way he made the medium feel more intimate and spoke to an audience as if it were him speaking to a bunch of his buddies at a dinner party. Until his passing, he was a living, breathing icon who told the story of American comedy as the art form we know today. For more on Mort Sahl, I highly recommend that you read the biography written on him from 2017, “Last Man Standing” by James Curtis.

May Mort’s neshama have an aliyah in the heavens, and may his work continue to inspire great art from those of us who are still alive. Rest in peace, Mort.

Daniel Lobell is a comedian and podcaster living in Los Angeles. He is the author of the Fair Enough comic book series and hosts the Doctorpedia podcast.