Jackie Mason, the legendary US rabbi-turned-comedian, has died aged 93.

Mason, whose feisty brand of stand-up comedy led him from nightclubs to West Coast talk shows and Broadway stages, died at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.

Mason was known for his sharp wit and piercing social commentary, often about being Jewish, men and women, and his own inadequacies. His typical style was amused outrage.

“Eighty per cent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe,” he once joked.

Another Mason line was: “Politics doesn’t make strange bedfellows, marriage does.”

About himself, he once said: “I was so self-conscious, every time football players went into a huddle, I thought they were talking about me.”

His death was mourned far and wide, from fellow comedian Gilbert Gottfried, who called him “one of the best”, to Henry Winkler who tweeted: “Now you get to make heaven laugh.”

Mason was born Jacob Maza, the son of a rabbi. His three brothers became rabbis, as did Mason, who at one time had congregations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, but comedy eventually proved to be a more persistent calling.

“A person has to feel emotionally barren or empty or frustrated in order to become a comedian,” he said in 1987.

“I don’t think people who feel comfortable or happy are motivated to become comedians. You’re searching for something and you’re willing to pay a high price to get that attention.”

Mason started in showbusiness telling jokes at a resort in upstate New York.

In 1961, the comic got a big break with an appearance on Steve Allen’s weekly television variety show. His success took him to The Ed Sullivan Show and other programmes.

Mason’s act even took him to Broadway, where he put on several one-man shows, for which he won a special Tony Award.

Mason called himself an observer who watched people and learned. From those observations he said he got his jokes and then tried them out on friends. “I’d rather make a fool of myself in front of two people for nothing than 1,000 people who paid for a ticket,” he said. He was a reliable TV presence and made cameos on 30 Rock and The Simpsons.  
Mason is survived by his wife and daughter.