Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very funny because it is very true. It has a delightful bite. Enjoy!, April 8, 2007
Jackie Mason is a comedian I like very much. I enjoy his point of view, the way he delivers his material, and the fact that he is willing to base his humor on what he actually thinks about the world rather than adopting something he things the audience wants to buy. That he was actually a rabbi (briefly) at one time shows through and I think to the benefit of the humor and his audience.
This book is done with Raoul Felder and they go through popular culture, politics, social issues, daily life, and the world to take on those people, policies, and customs that are schmucks (they explain exactly what the word means in the introduction - it is not a compliment). They take on Tom Cruise, Al Sharpton, Madonna, the French, Waiters, Starbucks, Mark Cuban, and dozens of others.
None of the articles are very long and all have a sharpened point. The humor is delivered in the twist of the accusation and explanation of why they are indeed schmucks. For example, they ask of the French: "Are the French a nation of lowlifes? Has glory faded from this once-major player on the world's stage? Do they continue to be, in the words of the great philosopher Bart Simpson, "cheese-eating surrender monkeys"? In a word: Oui."
Do you like this kind of humor? Yes? Well, then this book is for you (it was for me)!
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Brief Tour of Schmuckdom., May 23, 2007
It's not everyday that you get to speak to a legend, but that's what happened to me last month when I found myself interviewing Jackie Mason. He was my uncle's favorite comedian and I'd seen him on television numerous times so I was pleasantly surprised to hear his voice on the other end of the receiver. Although not included in my piece, the funniest parts of our exchange were due to my failing to recognize the rhetorical nature of his aside, "Is this understood?" I kept breaking in with "Yes, sir." Hopefully, he got a kick out of that, but there's no need to wonder what readers will think about his new book, Schmucks!: Our Favorite Fakes, Frauds, Lowlifes, Liars, the Armed and Dangerous, and Good Guys Gone Bad, as it's got all the laughs that audiences have come to expect from him.
With the help of co-author, Raoul Felder, Jackie Mason has put together a mostly lighthearted series of vignettes illustrating the schmuckery of 62 persons who have done much to advance the cause of human misery. As one might expect, the principal offenders are mostly found on the left side of the political spectrum and include self-righteous nebbishes like Hillary Clinton, Cindy Sheehan, and Ramsey Clark along with entities like the ACLU, The New York Times, and Jews for Jesus. The entries are brief enough to ensure the attention and pleasure of the average reader.
Here, in Schmucks!, the wordplay is occasionally as clever as Mason's stand-up bits. In fact, many of his fans of will recognize some of the material as emanating from his act.There's more here than just guffaws though. It's good to see that at least somebody somewhere remembers the media's false sense of outrage over Rick Lazio. During his 2000 debate with Hillary Clinton the former Congressman walked over and asked her to sign a pledge concerning campaign finance reform. She refused to do so, but a wholly vanilla situation got turned into "the Rape of Sabine Women" by legions of Hillaryophile journalists. It seems that our country has now confused being placed into an unscripted moment with full frontal oppression. Not in every society does an all-powerful, conquering superwoman insist on being treated like Our Lady of Fatima. If we really want to enhance the marketplace of ideas, we should convince the junior Senator from New York to go toe-to-toe with Mr. Mason in a debate. The venue for that battle would sell out faster than tickets to a Yankees-Mets World Series. Alas, it will never be as Hillary, nor practically any other politician, possesses a sense of humor let alone the ability to ever laugh in their own direction.
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27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Ultimate Reference of Morons, March 27, 2007
Finally, two authors have written a reference tome of idiots and morons. Those two authors are legendary comedian Jackie Mason, and famed celebrity divorce attorney Raoul Felder. I received my copy yesterday, and tore through it in a couple of hours. Felder and Mason "call-out" everything that sane, sensible people think about our insane, non-sensible pop culture. This book will be a valuable "desk reference" every time I see a schmuck praised in the media. I will be so relieved in knowing that at least these two gentlemen will not let them get away with this. The only problem with this book, which, by the way, is a sad statement on our culture, is that it needs a sequel, and then another, and another right away, to document all the scmucks that are around. I hope people buy this book and have it next to their Webster's, Roget and Funk and Wangnalls. Maybe then, will more people say what Mason and Felder so eloquently state. The book flows so easily from one lowlife to another, with the authors' great narrative and razor sharp wit. Thank God, that Mason and Felder are no scmucks themselves.
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