Several folks have written me with suggestions of stars who might qualify as Elder Statesmen of Comedy. They include Carl Reiner (age 80), Mel Brooks (77), Dick Van Dyke (78), Howie Morris (84), Rodney Dangerfield (81), Don Rickles (77), Bob Elliott (80), Art Carney (84), Red Buttons (84), Jonathan Winters (77), Stan Freberg (76) and Alan King (75). Buzz Dixon and Fred Hembeck both mentioned Professor Irwin Corey who is, of course, 143. One could call all or some of those guys our Elder Statesmen of Comedy, if only by default. But I think it's significant that not one of the names mentioned was over 84. We used to have a lot of great comedians in their late eighties or even their nineties. Henny Youngman was 92 when he died, Berle was 94, Hope and Burns were 100, etc. Maybe I'm stretching things but it seems like there's a gap here.
Speaking of great older comedians: I just got back from my doctor's office where I was introduced to one. I was hustling past the nurse's station on my way out when I recognized an extremely short female patient there as my old pal, comedienne-voice actress Mitzi McCall. She was chatting with an older male patient she just happened to run into there in the office and she introduced me to him. She said, "Mark, do you know Shecky Greene?"
Do I know Shecky Greene? Not personally, no. But I got to tell him — and this is absolutely true — "Mr. Greene, I want you to know that not only do I think you're terrific but my father did, too. My father was a very frugal man and when he went to Las Vegas, he wouldn't spend money on shows because shows cost too much. You were the one exception. He wouldn't pay to see Frank. He wouldn't pay to see Dino or Sammy. He wouldn't pay to see Frank, Dino and Sammy. But he'd pay to see you, and he'd come back from Vegas raving about how fabulous you were and doing absolutely terrible re-creations of your best material."
Mr. Greene said, "I was getting $7.50 a seat then, probably."
I said, "Okay, so he wasn't frugal. He was cheap. But he would have disowned me if I hadn't liked you."
So there's another Elder Statesman of Comedy, I guess. Shecky Greene, by the way, is 77. I didn't see his charts but he sure doesn't look it.