Central Queens Resident of the Day

Posted by Steve on Monday, May 21st, 2007

Rodney Dangerfield (1921-2004) was the best bad comic of all time. Born Jacob Cohen on Long Island, when he was 10, he moved to an apartment above the current location of Austin’s Ale House on Austin Street in Kew Gardens and stayed through high school. After a journeyman career, he did something incredible: In the 1980s, just as stand-up comedy was in transition from Henny Youngman-style setup/punchline gags to a more free-flowing, cerebral form, Rodney experienced a career renaissance by taking the same old, dying style every other comic was rejecting and running with it. It’s hard to imagine anyone else pulling this off, but Rodney could because his hacky jokes were brilliantly crafted and delivered. Many people don’t know that in addition to being a beloved performer, Rodney was also a sort of patron saint of the New York comedy scene, developing many successful comics at his Upper East Side club, Dangerfield’s, which he opened in 1969. It’s still there.

In the interest of originality, I will not even mention Rodney’s most famous line and instead tell you that I always preferred his frequent interjections of, “I tell ya!”