Jack Benny Rochester Quotes & Sayings

European fascism changed comedy in America. Jack Benny explained, 'During World War II, attitudes changed. Hitler's ideology of Aryan supremacy put all ethnic humor in a bad light. When the black man's fight for equal rights and fair play became an issue after the War, I would no longer allow Rochester to say or do anything that an audience would consider degrading.' Benny's attitude toward race relations was enlightened. Starting in 1940 he refused to play any segregated venue. In the 1960s when his agent scheduled a world tour, Benny chastised him for booking a gig in apartheid South Africa and refused to appear. — Kliph Nesteroff