Humor

Jackie Mason, the crusty, self-doubting, enduring comedian who was anointed into pop culture by "The Simpsons," has died.

Jackie passed Saturday at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC. His longtime friend Raoul Felder, tells TMZ ... Jackie had been hospitalized for more than 3 weeks ... admitted with inflammation of the lungs. He had been experiencing a number of health issues over the last few years.

Mason's comedy career spans 60 years, with some huge successes along with some pretty big bumps along the way.

His big break came in 1960, when he appeared on "The Steve Allen Show" and killed. That led to huge bookings at various clubs and regular TV appearances, including "The Ed Sullivan Show" where he appeared 12 times ... and then, disaster struck. In 1964, Mason was on Sullivan's live show but it was partially preempted by a speech by then-President Lyndon Johnson. When regular programming resumed, Mason was mid-way through his act and Sullivan was already counting him down with his finger "1 minute to go." Mason responded by looking at audience members, saying "Here's a finger for you, here's a finger for you" ... and so on.

He was damaged goods after that for years ... club owners felt he was "crude and unpredictable." Mason said, "It took 20 years to overcome what happened in that 1 minute."

And, there was more ... in a 1966 Vegas show, Mason mocked Frank Sinatra's marriage to young Mia Farrow -- "Frank soaks his dentures and Mia brushes her braces." As the story goes ... a gunman pumped a bullet into Mason's hotel room.

Mason's comedy was sometimes hilarious ... especially when he groused about his self-doubt.  He joked, "When I attended a football game, every time the players went into a huddle, I thought they were talking about me."

His biggest success came in 1986, with his one-man show "The World According to Me!" ... which ran on Broadway for 2 years and earned him a Tony and an Emmy for HBO's take on the show.

The title of his autobiography underscores his Jewish humor -- "Jackie, Oy!"

Mason was the voice of Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky, Krusty the Clown's dad, on "The Simpsons."

At the time of his death, Mason was surrounded by his wife, Jyll, and friend, Felder.

He was 93.

Nicki Minaj sure does appreciate the fan love she receives -- but she loves it even more when her adoring base can worship her uninterrupted ... for which one mall security guard is getting a personal shout-out from the Barbz herself.

The rapper reposted a video originally shared by TikTok user @zhachanel2 ... in which they take an impromptu karaoke sesh -- with a new song NM is featured on, "Whole Lotta Money," -- right into a designer fashion store in a what appears to be a mall somewhere in NYC.

So, imagine a Times Square street performer busting into a Zara and literally cutting loose with a portable speaker. That's exactly what happened here, and that's when security stepped in to shut it down ... well, kinda. The dude half tried, but didn't seem to care.

Check it out ... he tells Zha and their photog that they can't be "doing that" in here -- but he makes no real attempt to stop it ... instead, choosing to walk and throw his hands up.

Nicki loved the fact that the dude let the show go on ... taking to IG to write in part, "it's the security guard sayin "y'all can't do that in here" while walking AWAY from the festivities chile I am TIDE," going on to explain that the whole interaction was absolutely hilarious to her.

Queen Nicki wasn't done there though ... she followed up with another message on her story, and it sounds like she wants to hook the guard up for not being a jerk and letting Zha do the damn thang.

She says, "Someone tell the security guard in that video I posted that I'm lookin for him." Nicki adds, "I wanna send him a gift for being such a sweetheart to one of my babies."

Bill Burr tore into CNN for what he claims to be a fear-driven agenda that seeks to keep viewers restless and divided ... and one which needs Trump to keep ratings high.

The comedian absolutely obliterated the 24/7 cable news station in his latest installment on his "Monday Morning Podcast," the newest episode of which he just dropped a couple of days ago. He starts out talking about his day-to-day life/observations ... and then dives into the news.

Check it out ... Bill says his mother-in-law will come over to help watch his kids, and flip on CNN habitually -- which he says pisses him off, because he considers them "f****** morons" who do nothing but talk Trump, day in and day out ... even after he's left office.

The reason for that, he muses, is because President Biden is a "bore" -- that ... and he wears a "blue tie."

We'll let Bill do the talking here -- but his rant is worth a listen. In his eyes, he considers CNN just as bad as FOX News and MSNBC ... and any other cable news outlet, as he seems to think they're two sides of the same coin -- pounding one POV into viewers' heads.

He also gets into the dreary approach to news coverage in general -- constantly harping on negative stories like fires, racial tension and the pandemic. Bill says if he ran a news show, he'd go with the 1-step forward, 2-steps back approach ... giving a positive story every now and then instead of making people want to put a "gun in their mouth," as he puts it.

Damon Dash almost followed in Alice's footsteps back to Wonderland -- walking face-first into a see-though wall he apparently didn't see ... perhaps speaking to where his head's at lately.

The rap mogul arrived for a podcast sesh Thursday with TV producer Rob Weiss, Shawn Chase and O'Neal McKnight to be a special guest on their weekly offering of "The Cray" ... where the gang talks all things culture, lifestyle, politics ... and just real-life experiences.

As you can imagine, they were stoked to have Dame come on and share some knowledge -- but the dude had a bit of a whoopsie-daisy moment trying to enter the recording room ... slamming right into a clear, glass wall separating the spaces of their floor.

Don't worry -- he didn't hit it too hard ... but it definitely knocked him back a bit -- and it got a laugh from the rest who were around. Understandable, we suppose ... DD has been in a bit preoccupied lately on more serious fronts, like with Roc-A-Fella and Jay-Z.

Remember ... he's been in a legal war with his old company and biz partner over IP/interest he's trying to unload for some dough -- namely, selling Jay-Z's first album, "Reasonable Doubt" as an NFT, plus ... trying to sell off his 1/3 stake in RAF, which a judge just shot down.

Unclear if he got into any of that with the Cray crew -- but it sounds like we'll find out soon enough ... we're told this episode is set to air soon on PodcastOne.

Luenell has some pretty simple advice for Bill Cosby -- just say "no" to a comeback standup comedy tour ... unless, of course, he's looking to end up back behind bars.

We got the comedian and actor at LAX, where she was adamant the best thing Cosby can do with his newfound freedom is to enjoy it ... quietly, at home. She says the alternative is taking the O.J. Simpson route.

Remember, 13 years after his stunning acquittal on double murder charges ... Simpson got pinched for armed robbery of sports memorabilia in Las Vegas, and ended up doing 9 years in prison.

Luenell's theory is ... Cosby should learn from Simpson, and simply "go somewhere and sit down." She doesn't spell it out, but the insinuation seems to be Cosby's gonna get himself in big trouble again if he insists on touring -- especially because she expects he'll be facing lots of protesters wherever he goes.

TMZ broke the story ... following his release from prison last month, Cosby's been plotting a tour and his camp says several promoters and comedy clubs are interested, with the exception of NYC's famed Comedy Cellar.

Macaroni and cheese and ice cream -- 2 great tastes that, apparently, go great together -- because the, umm ... unique flavor sold out in just 60 minutes!!!

Here's the deal ... Kraft and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream joined forces to create a limited-edition mac and cheese ice cream flavor and the demand was so great for the dessert debut, the website crashed within 9 minutes and the entire 2,000 pint inventory was wiped out online within the hour.

The ice cream launched Wednesday on National Mac & Cheese Day -- yes, that's a real thing -- and, in addition to online sales, they hawked it in Van Leeuwen's brick-and-mortar shops nationwide. Well, for a brief period, anyway ... we're told it took only 3 hours to sell out of their 9,000 scoops.

"Holes" star Khleo Thomas was one of the lucky ones to get their hands on the $12 pint ... and ya gotta see his reaction to his first bite!!!

Khleo says Van Leeuwen totally nailed the Kraft Mac & Cheese flavor, something he says he wasn't expecting.

For those who missed out, don't worry ... Kraft is launching an online sweepstakes with the chance to win 2 free pints.

An Amazon worker not only delivered a woman's package directly to her doorstep despite impending danger ... he freed her to leave her home.

The customer -- who goes by gwenniesanchez on TikTok and says she lives in Texas -- shared her horrifying spider dilemma. The giant arachnid stationed itself on her porch, including spending some time right on top of her doorbell camera.

So, she asked Amazon to leave her package at a different spot because the spider made her too afraid to go out her front door. Gwen also requested, "If you could kill the spider for me that would be amazing."

Well, lo and behold, the Amazon delivery guy took it upon himself to help his customer out ... by taking off his shoe and sending the creature to hell.

Looks like it took a couple whacks -- the spider was massive after all -- but then the dude went on his way.

Floyd Mayweather is reveling in Conor McGregor's downfall ... trolling the UFC star on social media and laughing about the fighter's broken leg.

Floyd took to Instagram on Monday to rub the salt in Conor's wounds ... posting a photoshopped pic that showed a sitting-down McGregor whose foot was turned sideways.

"Y’all got it twisted!" Floyd said, we're sure with pun intended. "I like how his shoes fit. Now, do the stanky leg."

Floyd has been basking in McGregor's loss ever since The Notorious snapped his leg in his match with Dustin Poirier on Saturday night in Vegas ... claiming he won more than $35,000 betting against Conor.

"[Dustin Poirier], thanks for getting me paid," Floyd said just minutes after the match.

Of course, the barbs are just the latest in a long-going feud between Floyd and Conor ... as the two have proven over and over again they REALLY don't like each other.

In fact, it was just a few weeks ago that Conor was throwing repeated jabs at Floyd for his whole drama with Logan and Jake Paul.

Bill Cosby now knows there's at least one place his return to stand-up comedy won't take him -- one of New York City's most popular venues for comics is telling him, HELL NO.

TMZ broke the story ... Cosby is plotting a tour on the heels of his prison release, and his camp says several promoters and comedy clubs are interested -- but the famed Comedy Cellar in NYC's Greenwich Village is definitely not.

Owner Noam Dworman tells TMZ ... his venue's not the slightest bit interested, and he doesn't want Bill to even step foot inside his club. While the Comedy Cellar is known for allowing comics and content that make audiences super uncomfortable, it sounds like Cosby is off-limits.

It's worth noting the club did allow Louis C.K. and Aziz Ansari on its stage in 2018 following their sexual misconduct scandals.

As you know, Cosby was released from prison last month after Pennsylvania's Supreme Court overturned his sexual assault conviction.

Dworman says even his audiences -- which largely welcomed Louis and Aziz -- wouldn't support a Cosby comeback.

Tiffany Haddish got an up close look at tiger sharks mating for "Shark Week," and she says the experience is gonna stick with her for a long time ... and she might need therapy.

Tiff joined us on "TMZ Live" Friday and told us about her deep dive into shark reproduction ... with a fun lesson on why female sharks have two uteruses and male sharks have two penises.

There's a future in marine biology for Tiffany if she wants it -- she says she was hardly afraid as she swam with the man-eating sharks, performing ultrasounds to look for babies. She tried to blow off the fear, telling us it was no worse than anything she faced growing up.

It's pretty interesting, and graphic ... Tiffany says she got to see the sharks having sex. There's lots of thrashing and wrestling moves involved, and Tiffany says she sympathized with the female sharks.

Tiffany's shark adventure airs Sunday at 9 PM ET on Discovery and Discovery+ and she's not the only celeb getting in on the "Shark Week" fun ... Brad Paisley, William Shatner, Snoop Dogg, Eli Roth, Ian Zeiring, Tara Reid and the 'Jackass' stars are also involved.

If you needed further proof Patrick Mahomes is great at EVERYTHING ... here's the NFL star shotgunning a beer so quickly, it appeared he beat Travis Kelce in a chug-off!!

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback posted the footage Thursday ... and it's impressive as hell -- considering the 25-year-old put down the cold one in under 3 seconds!!!

In fact, the chug was so fast ... it sure looked like he beat Kelce in the beer race, which, of course, is an improbable feat, given the tight end is an expert beer-drinker who outweighs Patrick by 30 pounds!!

The fun and playful scene all went down at the American Century Championship charity golf tourney in Lake Tahoe ... where the two Chiefs stars have partied a time or two over the years.

You'll recall, just last summer, Kelce, Mahomes and their significant others held an EPIC boat party on the lake during the golf event ... where everyone swam, drank and twerked!

How do you spell "most interesting teenager in America?" Zaila Avant-garde!!!

Zaila entered the history books Thursday by winning the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee, becoming the first Africa-American champion. The 14-year-old also became the first winner from the state of Louisiana.

The teen took home the title after she correctly spelled "murraya" -- a type of tree -- but not before she joked that the word contained the last name of a comedian ... to the delight of Bill Murray fans everywhere.

Along her way to becoming the first Black American to win in 93 editions of the competition, Zaila also had to spell words like "querimonious," "solidungulate," and "Nepeta." The only other Black winner was Jamaica's Jody-Anne Maxwell in 1998.

There's much more to Avant-garde than her spelling though ... which she only began doing competitively 2 years ago. She's also a gifted basketball player who holds 3 Guinness world records for dribbling skills ... and even her last name is special. Her father changed it from Heard to Avant-garde in homage to the jazz legend, John Coltrane.

We see London, we see France ... we see SHAQ'S UNDERPANTS!!!

Shaquille O'Neal is out to prove the quarantine look is still in style ... with the NBA legend going business up top, nothing on the bottom for a live TV segment!!

Of course, we've all been there at some point in the pandemic ... but the Hall of Famer had no problem showing off his skivvies while on air for NBA TV Thursday night.

The Big Aristotle had just finished his final segment of the 2021 season after the Suns beat the Bucks in Game 2 of the NBA Finals ... and decided to celebrate by hopping up and dancing like crazy!!

The 7'1", 330-lb. big man even pulled a Petey Pablo by taking his blazer off, twistin' it around his hand and spinnin' it like a helicopter.

O'Neal even started doing jumping jacks ... later admitting it made him "tired as hell."

The moment is hilarious ... and even his fellow "Inside the NBA" analyst pal, Kenny "The Jet" Smith, had to get in on the party -- although it appears he was fully clothed.

Hey, Shaq and Kenny deserve the break -- as Smith points out, it was basically 2 NBA seasons back to back, thanks to the pandemic.

Bill Cosby is jumping right back into showbiz now that he's out of prison -- not shockingly, he's working on a docuseries about himself, but more surprising is the fact he's plotting a return to standup comedy.

Cosby's rep, Andrew Wyatt, tells TMZ ... the comedian, at 83 years old, wants to hit the road and tell jokes, and his camp's contacted several promoters and comedy clubs who they say are open to the idea.

Despite widespread backlash and outrage over his prison release, Wyatt confidently claims ... "The world wants to see Mr. Cosby."

We're also told Cosby is working on a 5-part docuseries covering his life, legacy, trial and prison experience -- and he'll be sitting down soon to do his interview for the project.

So far, we're told producers of the series have shot interviews with Cosby's family, friends and other celebs.

As you know ... Cosby was released from prison last week after Pennsylvania's high court overturned his sexual assault conviction.

A potential comedy tour isn't the only thing catching Cosby's eye ... we're told he also wants to go around the country making appearances in prisons, schools and neighborhoods, talking to folks about being better citizens and curbing violence.

Cosby's rep says the inspiration for a speaking tour draws from Cosby's own experiences behind bars, where he heard moving stories from other inmates, like a father and son serving time together.

Cosby is also writing a book with novelist Frederick Williams, focusing on Cosby's criminal case and prison experience.

As we first told you, Cosby could still earn thousands in public appearances after his release from prison, similar to O.J. Simpson.

Paul Rudd once gave Seth Rogen a massage -- which might sound goofy ... but there's a twist that makes it all the more hilarious, the details of which Seth shared to much fanfare.

The actor/director dished on the hilarious story out of nowhere Monday on Twitter, telling the tale of the time his good pal, Paul, cloaked himself as a masseuse at a parlor Seth was at ... which he didn't really realize until well into the back rub.

In Seth's own words, he writes ... "Once I was in the spa in a hotel in Vegas getting a massage. When I finished I turned over and to my shock Paul Rudd was massaging me."

He goes on to give the nitty gritty of how the heck PR might've been able to sneak his way into such a scenario, adding ... "He saw me go in and convinced the masseuse to let him take over, thinking I'd notice immediately. I didn't, and Paul did the entire rest of it."

If that sounds like something Paul Rudd would do in a movie, turns out ... it's actually a stunt he'd pull in real-life as well. As the internet has pointed out, it's very on brand for him (and maybe for Seth too).

Of course, it'd be remiss of us not to mention that these two guys have some famous history with massage/beauty parlors ... perhaps most notably from "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" -- when they watched Steve Carell get his chest hair waxed off, a majority of which was real.

NBC is running from its reality show "Ultimate Slip 'N Slide" ... after a bunch of folks on the crew experienced explosive runs themselves.

The network put the show on ice after members of the production staff experienced diarrhea ... apparently from some sort of parasite called Giardia.

The show was being shot in the San Fernando Valley and almost reached the finish line with 1 week of production left, but it was too much. After multiple crew members got sick, production was indefinitely shut down.

Neither of the hosts -- Bobby Moynihan and Ron Funches -- came down with the runs.

An environmental lab tested the water used in the competition, along with restrooms and other facilities, and initially results came back negative, but they got a positive result last month. So, with 7 weeks in the can (sorry) and one week left to go, the door was slammed shut ... this according to PEOPLE.

The show was set to premiere August 8 after the closing ceremony of the Olympic Summer Games.