Top 10 Jewish Comedians of Radio, Stand-up, TV and Movies

With the fading days of vaudeville in the 1920s, advent of radio in the 1930s and first flicker of television in the 1940s, emerged a generation of Jewish comedians who dominated American humor media for more than half a century. First, there were the pioneers from vaudeville, Jack Benny, George Burns, Milton Berle and Groucho Marx.

Other Jewish comedians established the profession of stand-up comedy in the 1930s summer Borsht Belt hotels of New York's Catskill Mountains. Many went on to successful TV careers, including Benny, Burns, Groucho, Berle and Sid Caesar. Others experienced careers that evolved from the Borscht Belt to comedy clubs to television, and for some, major movie careers. They were Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield and Billy Crystal.

In order of their appearance on the entertainment scene, these are arguably the top ten Jewish comedians of the past century:

1. Groucho Marx (1890-1977) began his career as a member of the the Marx Brothers boy comedy troupe. After their fame on vaudeville stages, the four Marxes arrived in early-talkies Hollywood at exactly the right moment, when their combined skills of knock-about comedy and fast patter were most welcome. Groucho's character, established in vaudeville, became an American icon for his slouching walk, womanizing, cigar-smoking, painted mustache con man. After a decade of successful movies with brothers Harpo and Chico, Groucho toned down his bizarre character a bit and went solo with a radio quiz program in 1948, "You Bet Your Life". It became an instant hit when it switched to television in 1951, and it ran for 14 seasons.

2. Jack Benny (1894-1974) was the grand master of timing and droll, self-depreciating humor. He established a long and enormously successful 50-year career, first in vaudeville, then on radio with his wife, Mary Livingston, and both went on with the same kind of gentle humor on television. He also starred in several movies, including the "The H0rn Blows at Midnight" and "To Be or Not to Be."

3. George Burns (1896-1996) started as a vaudeville song and dance man, and a solo comedian until he teamed up with Gracie Allen, his Irish partner and wife for more than 50 years. George, with ever-present cigar and gravelly voice was content to serve as straight man for Gracie's brilliantly scatterbrained punch lines. After vaudeville, the couple conquered radio, television and movies. When Gracie died in 1964, Burns continued his successful career as a performer and producer on television, and stand-up comedian in Las Vegas, where he did his last appearance at age 99.

4. Milton Berle (1908-2002) began his career as a boy soprano in vaudeville, and literally grew up in that theater era. He gained fame in the 1920s and 1930s as a comedian in posh New York night clubs, as well as leading comedian in the summer hotels of the Borscht Belt. After some minor movie roles, as happened with the Marx brothers at the start of talkie movies, Berle came along at the exact right time at the birth of television. When less than a million American homes had TV in 1947, Berle began his Texaco show and became a huge hit with its sight gags and slapstick humor. He was called Mr. Television, and during his five-year reign, the number of America's home TV sets increased to more than 30 million.

5. Rodney Dangerfield (1921-2004) is not the classic Jewish comedian who worked his way up from stand-up comedian to success in TV and movies, including the classic, "Caddyshack.". He's the classic example of not letting failure stop him. His brand of gruff, self-depreciating humor and on-stage nervous tics got him few comedy jobs, so he quit several times to do various jobs, including selling aluminum siding. However, his luck changed when Ed Sullivan, the most popular show host of the 1950s and 1960s, found Dangerfield hilarious. That gave his career a kick-start, and soon Dangerfield was appearing on all the top comedy and late-night shows. What sets him off from other comedians is that he was a very generous man to other comedians. He opened a comedy club in New York, and gave jobs, and at times sleeping space, to many of the up-and-coming performers.

6. Sid Caesar (1922-) is more of a fast-talking actor with a dozen voices, accents and athletic gestures, than a stand-up comedian who does jokes. Caesar also had his start in the Borscht Belt, beginning as a musician in some of the popular dance bands of the 1930s and 1940s, and doing comedy routines during band breaks. He hit the peak of his career in 1949, after gaining initial notice as a guest performer on the Milton Berle show. Caesar headed a large cast in a popular variety program called Your Show of Shows, from 1949 to 1954. He then went on to a successful movie career, including "It's a Mad, Mad World" and "Vegas Vacation."

7. Lenny Bruce (1925-1966) made a deliberate departure from traditionally gentle, self-depreciating Jewish comedians of his era. Not one for mild humor or silly slapstick, Bruce was an angry, shock-talking, often profane commentator of his times, the turbulent 1960s. His frequent obscene language, open use of illegal drugs and blantant sexual material in his act brought considerable police trouble, and he served time in jail. Before he died of a drug overdose, Bruce had created a controversial new breed of stand-up comedian, fearless social commentators and advocates of free speech. Others who followed his style include George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and most of today's comedy club stand-up performers.

8. Joan Rivers (1933-) worked her way from stand-up comic in smoky strip joints to national renown as TV comedian and host, Las Vegas and night club star and highly-successful TV marketing personality. Although the daughter of a wealthy physician, Rivers left home after college to make it on her own, and endured the usual difficult rise to her current high status in show business. When her comedy career wavered, she took costume jewelry products to the then-new TV Home Shopping Network and continues to earn a high income with her clever marketing abilities.

9. Woody Allen (1935-) began his show business life as a teenage gag writer on Sid Caesar's 1940s TV show, "Your Show of Shows". After several successful years as a stand-up comedian with a nebbish personality in clubs and on TV, Allen went on to a brilliant career as movie actor, writer and producer. Some of his well-known movies include "Sleeper", "Play it Again Sam", "Annie Hall", "Bullets over Broadway" and "Manhattan".

10. Billy Crystal (1948-) was also raised in a middle-class family Jewish family. Because his father was a music producer, Billy was first exposed to show business as a child and began his stand-up comedy career at age 16. He continued working in clubs through his college studies, and made his first TV success in the TV comedy, "Soap" in 1977. A master of voices, particularly with his imitations of Howard Cosell, Sammy Davis Jr. and Muhammad Ali, Crystal's TV career blossomed. Since then, Crystal has had a distinguished career in movies, starring in hits including, "Throw Momma from the Train", "City Slickers" and "Analyze This."

All of the top ten Jewish comedians are native New Yorkers, and most were born poor, in the tenements of Lower Manhattan. They often had to endure persecution on the streets and in schoolyards. To contest bullying by bigger kids, Jewish kids had to be funny, to be the class clowns and fight off threats with jokes. In that era, Jews emerged from schools to suffer further discrimination in college admissions, professions and jobs in major businesses. The successful comedians fought anti-Semitism with humor, and these few succeeded far beyond their youthful dreams.