Respectful comedian

He was born on Long Island in the town of Babylon, the son of Jewish parents, his father was the vaudevillian performer Phil Roy (Philip Cohen). His ancestors had come to the United States from Hungary.[4] He would later say that his father “was never home — he was out looking to make other kids”, and that his mother “brought him up all wrong”. As a teenager, he got his start writing jokes for standup comics; he became one himself at 19 under the name Jack Roy. He struggled financially for nine years, at one point performing as a singing waiter (he was fired), and also working as a performing acrobatic diver before giving up show business to take a job selling aluminum siding to support his wife and family. He later said that he was so little known then that, “At the time I quit, I was the only one who knew I quit!” In the end, he was a Grammy winner, a movie star and an American icon. His shirt and tie now hang in the Smithsonian. He was, Rodney Dangerfield.

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