Myron Cohen (July 1, 1902 – March 10, 1986) was an American comedian and

raconteur A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business ...

. A son of Barnett and Rebecca (Feinstein) Cohen, Myron Aaron Cohen was born in

Grodno Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...

, Russia (now Hrodna, Belarus), and came to America as a little boy. The oldest of three brothers, he grew up in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, and later lived in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

with his wife Miriam (née Hyman), whom he married in 1925. She died in 1981. Cohen began as a salesman in the New York City garment industry. When calling on customers, before showing his samples, he would tell a joke to put everyone at ease and establish a friendly mood. Cohen’s jokes were often more popular than his garment samples, and his customers urged him to become a professional comedian. He was a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

entertainer in the 1950s and 1960s, recording several live record albums and also frequently appearing on TV variety programs such as ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

''. During the 1950s, when there were numerous nightclub showroom venues throughout the nation, he was one of the top headliners in the same league as

Sophie Tucker Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was an American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertaine ...

, Ted Lewis,

Ray Vasquez Ray Vasquez (12 February 1924 – 25 January 2019), also known as Ray Victor, was an American singer, musician, trombonist and actor, and a significant influence on the Latin jazz scene from 1940 through 2019. Early life Ray Moreno Vasquez wa ...

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...

, and

Joe E. Lewis Joe E. Lewis (born Joseph Klewan; January 12, 1902 – June 4, 1971) was an American comedian, actor and singer.Obituary ''Variety'', June 9, 1971, page 54. Early life Lewis was born was born into a family of Russian immigrants on Januar ...

, among others. Compared with many star performers, he was not aloof, and was very affable and approachable in public. Although he spoke perfect, cultured English, he was a master at capturing the ethnic accents of the Jewish citizens of New York City. Cohen suffered a heart attack at age 83 and died at Nyack Hospital, where he had been taken from his home in New City, New York. Cohen is interred at Cedar Park Cemetery, in

Emerson, New Jersey Emerson is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, a suburb in the New York City metropolitan area. Emerson is the most southern town in an area of the county referred to as the Pascack Valley. As of the 2010 United States Censu ...

. He is played by Randall Newsome in

Regina King Regina Rene King (born January 15, 1971) is an American actress and director. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2019, ''Time'' magazine named her one ...

's '' One Night in Miami...''.

Trivia

In the 1973 Woody Allen movie '' Sleeper'', Cohen, along with fellow comedian

Jackie Mason Jackie Mason (born Yacov Moshe Maza; yi, יעקב משה מזא; June 9, 1928 – July 24, 2021) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. His 1986 one-man show ''The World According to Me!'' won a Special Tony Award, an Outer Critics Cir ...

, had uncredited voice cameos as the Jewish "Ginsberg and Cohen" robot tailors since 2073.

References

Bibliography

*1958: ''Laughing Out Loud.'' (Citadel Press). *1960: ''More Laughing Out Loud.'' (Citadel Press). *1960: ''Myron Cohen’s Big Joke Book.'' (Citadel Press). *1978: ''The Myron Cohen Joke Book: Laughing Out Loud and More Laughing Out Loud.'' (Gramercy Books) 1902 births 1986 deaths American people of Russian-Jewish descent People from Grodno Audio Fidelity Records artists Jewish American comedians Burials at Cedar Park Cemetery (Emerson, New Jersey) 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American Jews Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States {{US-comedian-stub