Mason provides laugh-packed hour

Joe Delaney

Friday, Aug. 6, 1999 | 10:18 a.m.

Jackie Mason possesses a brilliant mind; he is an observer, a thinker and a philosopher when he is not pointing out the wonderful absurdities of everyday life.

His current show in the MGM Grand Hollywood Theatre, through Wednesday, has much that is new and fresh and just enough of the best of the past to satisfy those who must have something familiar as well. He berates at times but always in fun. Most of all, he is one of the few naturally funny comedians.

Comedian Larry Tompkins opened the show with 10 mostly soft minutes, except for a clever comparison of topless bars vs. Las Vegas' gentlemen's clubs. This sets up Lou Christie, whose forte is the falsetto a la Frankie Valli, lead voice for the Four Seasons. Christie's half-hour were mostly his hit recordings from the 1960s starting with "I'm Gonna Make You Mine."

Christie changed pace with "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing," followed by "The Gypsy Cried," "Two Faces Have I," "Rhapsody in the Rain," "Make Me Tell You I'm in Love with You," "Hot Saturday Night" and closed with "Never My Love." Christie is forceful, dramatic and won the goodly crowd early and closed to strong applause. He could use a little less of the falsetto.

Mason was home free from his walk-on. He started off with a discussion of religious wars, noting there has never been an atheist war. ("An atheist will never kill you because you are a different kind of an atheist.") Somehow this modulated into a discussion of homosexual parades and the fact that now all parades must have special sections for homosexuals.

The Pritikin Diet led to a general discussion of all diets, which led into a very funny analysis of foods, fancy and plain, and fine dining, particularly French foods. Snails vs. escargot; steaks cooked vs. tartare and coffee vs. espresso began an extremely humorous discussion of the distinction between eating in the coffee shop and room service, also delivery vs. room service.

Women and their fight for equality was next on the list. If women are to work and be equal in every respect, then this should also apply to their picking up the check on an equal basis. This led to a discussion of Jews vs. gentiles when it came to picking up a dinner check, more truth told funny.

It was time for famous personalities, leading off with Jesse Jackson and a marvelously skewed explanation of the reason he was able to come home with the three hostages from Kosovo. President Clinton took a drubbing as a person, most of it very funny with no loss of audience support. He closed with hilarious impressions of Henry Kissinger, William F. Buckley and his classic Ed Sullivan. It was a laugh-filled very quick hour.

It is not the subject matter as much as Mason's approach to each subject and the laughs as he makes his point before moving on. Whatever he titles his shows, it is always really "The World According To Me" -- a very funny world according to Jackie Mason. The audience thoroughly enjoyed sharing his world with him.