686 Mort Sahl Fans Can't Be Wrong (and a look at other comedians over 80)

That's a screen-cap from Mort's Dec 20th show.

You might remember the back cover of Phil Ochs' last album: "50 Phil Ochs Fans Can't Be Wrong."

It's not the size of the audience; it's having an audience. Phil's album was ironically titled "Greatest Hits," even if it was all-new material, ending with the prophetic "No More Songs."

One day at WABC Radio, when Mort was subbing for Bob Grant, I brought in a Phil Ochs CD. "You're in for a treat," Mort told his listeners. He played "Love Me I'm a Liberal."

These days, at 91, Mort can still offer a mordant and salty comment on liberals, but as usual, on everyone else, too. He's still an iconoclast, and he's one of the oldest stand-ups standing.

I remember Mort asking me once, "Find me a place where I can work out. Weekends would be ok." But in New York City, it was hard to find a suitable club that would pay a reasonable price for him. Especially hard for me, since I was not then, nor am I now, an agent or manager. Friday night, and a topical comedian is in competition with Kimmel, Colbert, Meyers, O'Brien and Fallon on comfy stay-at-home TV. Saturday night, there's SNL. Sunday night, and people are tapped out.

Fast-forward a lot of years, and Mort is actually getting his wish. It's a Thursday night each week, playing a small room in a theater located in Mill Valley, California. Augmenting the fey staff and the dozens of patrons, somebody sets up a camcorder on a tripod. It picks up the ambient sound, and the show is streamed on a website called Periscope. As you see, that brings in an average of 650 or so extra viewers.

If you're wondering who, of Mort's contemporaries, are still out there, the answer is: few.

Mel Brooks has sometimes done a one-man show of anecdotes. He's 92.

Bob Newhart performs now and then, at 89. Jackie Mason has scheduled some dates in Florida for 2019, and he's 87. Also 87, Rusty Warren maintains a website and has DVDs and other goodies for sale. Probably the oldest comedian still getting around to parties and events, if not doing solo shows, is Woody Woodbury at 94. Rich Little and John Byner are young old-timers at 80.

Split the difference and you've got the Smothers Brothers, who retired their "sibling revelry" act, but who knows, might be persuaded to perform a song or two. Dick is 79, and Tommy is 81. Tommy's old sparring partner, Bill Cosby, 81, dropped into a Philly jazz club one night, despite his blindness and pending trial, to offer some laughs to the patrons. Would he accept an offer to entertaining the inmates?

I'm not sure if some of the other vintage performers can be persuaded to take the stage, but I'm sure fans would applaud Freddie Roman (81), Dick Cavett (82), Woody Allen (83), Pat Cooper (89), Norm Crosby (91) and Shecky Greene (92).