Jacob Cohen isn’t a name you’ll recognize, but odd are that you know this comedian. Jacob was born to a Jewish family in Deer Park, New York, in 1921. His dad, Phillip, was a vaudevillian, so Jacob entering show business was almost like him joining the family concern. His mom, Dottie, was an immigrant from the old Austria-Hungary Empire. But Jacob’s home life while growing up was odd and sad; his dad, on the road most of the year, only came home about twice a year. Jacob’s mom, he said later, was cold and distant; he said he never remembered receiving a hug from her–ever.
So, it made sense in a way that the young man would leave home and begin a life as a comedian in his teens. At the tender age of 15, using some connections though his father, Jacob began writing jokes for comedians as well as starting to do some stand-up routines in the Catskill Mountain resorts during the summer season. But success didn’t find him early; he sank deeply in debt. He later joked that one gig he did was so far off the beaten path that the review of his show was only covered by Field and Stream magazine. What Jacob realized was that his comedic identification was missing. Audiences, he said, wanted to be able to identify with the person speaking. They should come into a show with an expectation of who the comedian was.
In short, Jacob needed a schtick.
Jack Benny was a tightwad. Charlie Chaplin was The Little Tramp. Rich Little was a master impressionist. Jonathan Winters was a top-notch improv comic.
And Jacob Cohen, building off his childhood where he was largely ignored by both parents, decided to make his character self-deprecating.
And, by adopting this persona, Jacob found success and great respect. His shows became sellouts. He managed to open a comedy club that provided a steady income. He was a featured comedian in the 1960s on the Ed Sullivan Show. He became a respected mentor for modern comedians like Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler. He starred in some of the biggest comedy films of all time and has dozens of film and television credits to his name. One of his comedy albums won a Grammy Award. He became a fixture on late-night talk shows–Jay Leno credited Jacob with inspiring him to adopt the same style of self-deprecating humor. The Smithsonian opened a display containing some of Jacob’s personal items. In Los Angeles, there’s a comedy school that bears his name. Jacob was also the first–the first–comedian to have a website where he posted information about his career and interacted with his fans. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He had a song that was in the Billboard Top 100. A college granted him an honorary doctorate degree. Not a bad career for someone who made fun of his own foibles. And, when he died in 2004 at age 82, the world–not only the comedy world–mourned his passing.
And that’s how Jacob Cohen–you know him as Rodney Dangerfield–got respect.
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