Shecky Greene was a comedian at the near birth of stand up. As iconic as he was, all I know about him is he was the punch line for so many dads I knew as a kid. As in, “We’ve got a regular Shecky Greene here!”.
Shecky was a Las Vegas act since the 50’s and claimed he was making $150,000 a week ($800,000 in today’s currency) performing. (The majority of that money, he claimed, was frittered away on gambling and horse racing.)
One of Greene’s classic bits centered around his love-hate relationship with Frank Sinatra, who he once opened for in Miami Beach. “Frank Sinatra saved my life,” Greene would say, adding that Sinatra had his henchmen rough him up following a joke that offended the singer. “Five guys were beating me up and Frank said, ‘Okay, he’s had enough.’”
The story became part of Hollywood lore: