Trivia

Grew up surrounded by rabbis, which include three of his brothers. He himself was a cantor until age 25 when he too was ordained a rabbi. He left the synagogue after three years however; later quipping, "Someone in the family had to make a living.".

Appeared on the Ed Sullivan show the same night of the Beatles debut on American television.

Often mistaken as the voice of the Aardvark in the Ant and the Aardvark DePatie-Freleng cartoon series, who were both voiced by John Byner.

He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Entertainment Category in 1999 for the 1998 season for his one man show Much Ado About Everything.

Father of Sheba Mason with Ginger Reiter.

His first one-man show, "The World According to Me," was a success on stage both here and in Europe. He won a special Tony and an Outer Critic's Circle Award, plus an Ace Cable, Emmy, and Grammy award when he transferred it to other mediums.

He was the son of Belle Rivka (Gitlin) and Eliyahu/Eli Mordechai Maza. His parents were Yiddish-speaking emigrants from Smalyavichy, Minsk, Belarus. His father was a rabbi, as were his grandfather and great-grandfather. Jackie's father was a rabbi at a congregation in Sheboygan at the time of his birth, and later moved the family to the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

In 1987, received a Special Tony Award for his one-man show, "The World According to Me."

Traveled to London in 1991 for a Royal Variety performance for Queen Elizabeth II. Earlier in 1989 he did a command performance before the Queen Mum.

Wife, Jyll Rosenfeld, is his manager.

Currently starring in his last one-man-show, "The Ultimate Jew," at the New World Theatre in New York. (March 2008)

One of the few celebrities to publicly endorse Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.