see kids you have to understand, in 1988, the world was already too dumbed - down to get this man’s humor. His audience who got this stuff was 30 years gone ;)
100 years of public schooling ensured that. Compulsory schooling purged the classically-educated professors in the early 1900s. It's been downhill ever since, with the Sputnik scare as the outlier generation for STEM.
It's alarming that you said this and I'm only writing this because upon viewing this old clip, Right at the very beginning, I was thinking the exact same thing.
@@tomallen5837 yes but it's true !!!! the problem TODAY is we NEED people like this man. I know the people are ready once again for a man like this as our collective mouthpiece. Agree ?
My God. . .This particular audience didn't catch on to any of Mort Sahl's humor. . .They were dead, only a sprinkling of low level chuckles here and there. . .Mort was way over their heads.
He seems like he's an understudy for when Ralph Nader's running for President. This material was funny the first time around decades earlier, but Mort is very controversial so he's probably heavily censored, huh?
![What's My Line? - Mort Sahl; Harry Belafonte [panel] (Jun 11, 1961)](/img/n.gif)
He's giving a History of how stand up comedy originated. Sahl was there, he lived it.
"Funny, like a Woody Allen movie, not a Woody Allen marriage" ~ Norm MacDonald
Sometimes we forget Letterman's a solid, good guy. Even with a beard. Mort Sol lost his career just by asking "who really killed Kennedy?"
Mort.... Sahl.
At 9:28 --- "Tie a ground wire around my ankle in case . . ." Excellent line. He's a genius.
I was 14 when I first heard him on the radio, Yes, the radio. He is responsible for introducing me to politics and current events. RIP.
Me too.
see kids you have to understand, in 1988, the world was already too dumbed - down to get this man’s humor. His audience who got this stuff was 30 years gone ;)
100 years of public schooling ensured that. Compulsory schooling purged the classically-educated professors in the early 1900s. It's been downhill ever since, with the Sputnik scare as the outlier generation for STEM.
It's alarming that you said this and I'm only writing this because upon viewing this old clip, Right at the very beginning, I was thinking the exact same thing.
@@tomallen5837 yes but it's true !!!! the problem TODAY is we NEED people like this man. I know the people are ready once again for a man like this as our collective mouthpiece. Agree ?
My God. . .This particular audience didn't catch on to any of Mort Sahl's humor. . .They were dead, only a sprinkling of low level chuckles here and there. . .Mort was way over their heads.
It be like that sometimes with crowds , but to me Mort Sahl was ahead of his time , very articulate intelligent man .... R.I.P. Mort 🌟 🙏
Spot on. Deadbeats. Mort was big in Toronto and Montreal, way ahead of his time.
They didn't get any of it. 'The two faces of Nixon on Mount Rushmore!'
My God what a rush it is listening to this guy
I think that letterman was waiting for the batta-bing to find a place to laugh.
It's pretty clear Letterman's audience isn't too hip.
He seems like he's an understudy for when Ralph Nader's running for President. This material was funny the first time around decades earlier, but Mort is very controversial so he's probably heavily censored, huh?
Mort loved JFK. He knew the truth. They destroyed his career for it.
David went to school
love his laugh. his sense of humor is all there.
What David Letterman was ultimately asking was when and why did you sell out?
Sahl never sold out. His career was 10 % of what it was , before he questioned the Kennedy assassination.
No he didn't
Shew, Mort had really lost his fastball by then.