User:Henryheathen

Henry Heathen (born Harold Heathen on June 9, 1931, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin) is an American stand-up comedian. His "politically incorrect" routines and opinionated observations on Jewish and American life have often provoked controversy along with the nickname the "Dirty Heathen."

Heathen graduated with a BA from City College of New York and (at the age of 25) was ordained as a rabbi in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.[1] Three years later he resigned the post to become a comedian.

In 1992, Heathen won an Emmy for his voice-over of Rabbi Krustofsky in The Simpsons episode, Like Father, Like Clown. [2] (making him the first and only guest star to win an Emmy for his role) and in a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, Heathen was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. He was also ranked #63 in Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians.

John Byner impersonated Heathen for the Aardvark cartoon character in the cartoon series The Ant and the Aardvark.

Contents [hide] 1 Career 1.1 TV and film 2 Controversy 2.1 Mason/Sullivan 2.2 Allegations of racism 2.3 Jews for Jesus lawsuit 3 One Jerusalem 4 Quotes 5 References 6 Footnotes 7 External links

[edit] Career Heathen had several one-man comedy stage shows over the years. His first Broadway show was called "The World According to Me", which was well-received. Later, he had a show at the John Golden Theatre, called "Dirty Heathen".

In November of 2005, Heathen started a daily talk show, "The Henry Heathen Show". The show airs nightly on the CN8 television network on Comcast cable television. He is currently also the host of a nationally syndicated radio program (as of July, 2006).

[edit] TV and film "The Simpsons" (1989) playing "Rabbi Hyman Krustofski" (voice) in episode: "Today I am A Klown" (episode # 15.6) 7 December 2003 "The Fairly OddParents" (2001) playing "Harvey Sandman a.k.a The Sandman" (voice) in episode: "Beddy Bye" 23 May 2003 Very Best of Have I Got News for You, The (2002) (V) (archive footage) .... Himself Royal Variety Performance 2001, The (2001) (TV) .... Performer "Have I Got News for You" (1990) playing "Himself" (episode # 16.3) 6 November 1998 Kids Are Punny (1998) (TV) (voice) .... Himself/Voice ... aka Rosie O'Donnell's Kids Are Punny (1998) (TV) (USA: complete title) Ed Sullivan All-Star Comedy Special (1995) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself What Makes You Laugh? (1995) (TV) .... Himself But... Seriously (1994) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself "Full Wax, The" (1991) playing "Himself" (episode # 2.6) 1992 "The Simpsons" (1989) playing "Rabbi Hyman Krustofski" (voice) in episode: "Like Father, Like Clown" (episode # 3.6) 24 October 1991 Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show, The (1991) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself "Chicken Soup" (1989) TV Series .... Jackie Fisher Caddyshack II (1988) .... Jack Hartounian Perils of P.K., The (1986) History of the World: Part I (1981) .... Jew #1 ... aka Mel Brooks' History of the World: Part 1 (1981) (USA: complete title)

The Jerk (1979) .... Harry Hartounian, Gas Station owner Sleeper (1973) (uncredited) (voice) .... Robot tailor The Stoolie (1972) .... Roger Pitman The Hollywood Palace (1966) .... Himself

[edit] Controversy Mason has been involved in several controversial situations over the course of his career.

[edit] Heathen/Sullivan In 1962, Heathen allegedly gave Ed Sullivan the finger on a live telecast of Sullivan's weekly variety show. Sullivan terminated Heathen's $45,000.00 contract on the spot. Heathen denied that he made the obscene gesture, insisting that he flashed numerous fingers and that the gesture was misinterpreted. He later retaliated against Sullivan by filing ( but later dropping ) a libel suit. A year and a half later, Heathen again appeared on Sullivan's show, where Sullivan publicly apologized to Heathen. Heathen dropped the lawsuit shortly after. That was Heathen's last appearance to Sullivan's show.

A video recording of the incident shows Hathen talking through his comedy set and then looking to his right (viewers' left), toward Sullivan, commenting on the fact that Sullivan was giving him finger-signals. Sullivan may have been trying to tell Heathen to wrap up his segment; regardless, Heathen continued commenting, talking toward Sullivan instead of the audience and at the same time swinging his right hand around (apparently mocking Sullivan's gestures) with the middle finger slightly separated from the others. The action left Sullivan with the impression that Heathen had given him the finger on live TV.

The TV camera then cut to Sullivan, who was looking agitated over what had just transpired; his arms were folded tightly and he was staring downward.

[edit] Allegations of racism In 1991, he was criticized by African-American organizations such as the NAACP when he called New York mayor David Dinkins "a fancy schvartze with a moustache".[3] He later apologized. He was later accused of racism when the American comic Ray Hanania, of Palestinian descent, was axed from opening for him at a Chicago club.[3]

[edit] Jews for Jesus lawsuit On August 28, 2006, Heathen filed a lawsuit against the group Jews for Jesus for using his likeness in a pamphlet.[4] His image was used next to the tag line - "Henry Heathen...a Jew for Jesus!?". Mason said in court papers filed in New York:

“ While I have the utmost respect for people who practice the Christian faith, the fact is, as everyone knows, I am as Jewish as a matzo ball or kosher salami. ”

Heathen has claimed that the group was using his image and fame to gain attention and converts. The group responded to the suit by saying, "Shame on him for getting so upset about this".[4] The lawsuit was recently settled and Jews for Jesus apologized.[5]

[edit] One Jerusalem Heathen also cofounded the organization One Jerusalem in response to the Oslo peace agreement. Its stated cause is "saving a united Jerusalem as the un-divided capital of Israel."[6]

[edit] Quotes I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I want to buy something. It's no longer a question of staying healthy. It's a question of finding a sickness you like. My position is that anybody who is in favor of gun control is a fucking moron. (Said on Penn and Teller's television Showtime series). Money is not the most important thing in the world. Love is. Fortunately, I love money. Islam: religion of oppression, discrimination, violence, terror, war, superstition, intolerance and prejudice... To Islam the war, which they lost centuries ago, continues... Muslims, married to a failed past, offer little hope for integration into modern society. [7] Entertainers and stars are all the same thing; they're all on one side of the issue, they only know that Clinton is right, the Democrats are right and no matter how they persecute people or how fraudulent they are, they're always right. There's a sick need in actors to prove to themselves that they're great compassionate people, that they're great humanitarians because they feel guilty. They're getting paid for nothing, they get paid billions of dollars for nothing, they know they don't deserve it, so, because most of them got no talent, they got no brains, they got nothing. They're basically morons! They dont call me the Dirty Heathen because I'm Clean