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Alan King (December 26, 1927 – May 9, 2004),
born Irwin Alan Kniberg, was an United
States|American comedian known for his biting wit
and often angry humorous rants.  King became
well-known as a Jewish comedian and satirist. He
appeared in a number of movies and television
shows. King wrote several books, produced films,
and appeared in plays.  In later years, he helped
many philanthropic causes. He died of lung cancer
on May 9, 2004.

==Childhood==

The youngest of several children, Irwin Kniberg
(Alan King) spent his first years on the Lower
East Side of Manhattan.  Later, King's family
moved to Brooklyn. King used humor to survive in
the tough neighborhoods. As a child, King
performed impersonations on street corners for
pennies.

When he was fourteen, King performed "Brother, Can
You Spare A Dime" on the radio program Major Bowes
Original Amateur Hour. He lost first prize, but
was invited to join a nationwide tour.

At fifteen, King dropped out of high school to
perform comedy at the Hotel Gradus in the Catskill
Mountains. After one joke that made fun of the
hotel's owner, King was fired. He worked in Canada
in a burlesque house while also fighting as a
professional boxer. He won twenty straight fights
before losing. Nursing a broken nose, King decided
to quit boxing and focus on his comedy career.
King began working as a doorman at the popular
nightclub Leon and Eddie's while performing comedy
under the last name of the boxer who beat him,
"King."

==Career==

King started out with the usual routines of
one-liners about mother-in-laws and Jews. King's
style of comedy changed when he saw Danny Thomas
performing in the early 1950s. King realized that
Thomas was talking to his audience, not at them,
and was getting a better response. King changed
his own style from one-liners to a more
conversational style that used everyday life for
humor. His comedy inspired other comedians like
Jerry Seinfeld and Billy Crystal.

King married Jeanette Sprung in 1947. He had three
children, Andrew, Robert, and Elaine Ray. His wife
persuaded him to move to Forest Hills, Queens for
their children. There, he developed comedy
revolving around life in suburbia. The focus of
his routines became life in the suburbs. With
America moving to suburbs, King's humor took off. 

King began opening for many celebrities including
Judy Garland, Patti Page, Nat King Cole, Billy
Eckstine, Lena Horne and Tony Martin (singer)|Tony
Martin. When Martin was cast in the movie Hit the
Deck, he suggested King for a part, which gave
King his first movie role. King played small roles
in movies in the 1950s, but disliked playing
stereotypical roles that he described as "always
the sergeant from Brooklyn named Kowalski."
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/05/09/obit.king.ap
/index.html King eventually expanded his range and
made a name for himself playing gangsters in five
movies, including Cats Eye and The Anderson Tapes.

Like many other Jewish comics, King worked the
Catskill Mountains|Catskill circuit known as the
Borscht Belt.  His career took off after
appearances on the Ed Sullivan, Perry Como, and
Garry Moore Shows. King also became a popular
television host. He became a regular guest host
for the Tonight Show, hosted the Oscars in 1972,
and was the Master of Ceremonies|MC for President
John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. King was
also the long-standing host of the New York
Friar's Club celebrity roasts.

==Personal life==

In the 1960s, King's performances in Las Vegas led
him to face up to a gambling addiction that made
him limit his performances in Las Vegas. In the
1970s, King discovered one son was addicted to
drugs and turned him in to police. King realized
he had neglected his family and began spending
more time at home.

Throughout his life, King was deeply involved in
charity work. He founded the Alan King Medical
Center in Jerusalem, raised funds for the Nassau
Center for Emotionally Disturbed Children (near
his home in Sands Point, New York), and
established a chair in dramatic arts at Brandeis
University. He also created the Laugh Well
program, which sends comedians to hospitals to
perform for patients. In the 1970s, King turned
his passion for tennis into a pro tournament in
Las Vegas called the Alan King Tennis Classic. He
also started the Toyota Comedy Festival.

A life-long cigar smoker, King was forced to quit
smoking in 1992 after cancer led to the removal of
half his jaw. The cancer eventually returned. King
died at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
in Manhattan on May 9th, 2004, after succumbing to
lung cancer. He was 76.

==Quotes==

"Why is everybody carrying on about Woolworth's?
Have you ever eaten at the counter at Woolworth's?
If you wanted to sit in the Colony Club, I could
understand."
-King on lunch counter sit-ins during the 1960s

"The banks have a new image. Now you have 'a
friend,' your friendly bank. If the banks are so
friendly, how come they chain down the pens?"
-King on banks

"My brother is the youngest member of the College
of Physicians and Surgeons. And I wouldn't let him
cut my nails."
-King on doctors

"Because no one could make the announcement 'Miss
Garland will not appear tonight' better than I
could."
-King on why he opened for Judy Garland

"Modesty is not one of my virtues."
- King on his ego

Queen Elizabeth II: "How do you do, Mr. King?"
Alan King: "How do you do, Mrs. Queen?"
-King on royalty

"It even cleared out your nostrils, your sinuses,
and the wax in your ears."
-King on his mother's enemas

"As life's pleasures go, food is second only to
sex. Except for salami and eggs. Now that's better
than sex, but only if the salami is thickly
sliced."
-King on sex and food

"There's gotta be a better way for a nice Jewish
boy to make a living."
-King on boxing

"The world is full of little dictators trying to
run your life."
-King on people with no actual authority who
insist on trying to give you orders

"Did you hear the one about the elderly Jew on his
deathbed who sent for a priest, after declaring to
his astonished relatives that 'I want to convert.'
Asked why he would become a Catholic, after living
all his life as a Jew, he answered: 'Better one of
them should die than one of us.'"
-King on religion 

"You only live once, except for Shirley MacLaine."
-King on life

Is it dishonest to fake an orgasm when you jerk
off?.- A question he asked a reporter who works
for the Howard Stern show. Stern has played audio
clips of this interview several times during his
radio show.

==Filmography== 
*Hit the Deck (1955)
*Miracle in the Rain (1956)
*The Girl He Left Behind (1956)
*The Helen Morgan Story (1957)
*On the Fiddle (1961)
*Bye Bye Braverman (1968)
*The Anderson Tapes (1971)
*Just Tell Me What You Want (1980)
*Prince of the City (1981) (Cameo)
*I, the Jury (1982)
*Author! Author! (1982)
*Lovesick (1983)
*Cat's Eye (film)|Cat's Eye (1985)
*You Talkin' to Me? (1987) (Cameo)
*Memories of Me (1988)
*Funny (1989) (documentary)
*Enemies: A Love Story (1989)
*The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
*Night and the City (1992)
*Casino (1995)
*Under the Gun (1995)
*Rush Hour 2 (2001)
*Sunshine State (2002)
*Mind the Gap (2004)

== Plays == 
*Guys and Dolls (actor) 
*The Impossible Years  (actor) 
*The Lion in Winter (producer) 
*Something Different  (producer) 
*Mr. Goldwyn (actor)

== Books == 
*Anyone Who Owns His Own Home, Deserves One (1962)

*Help! I'm a Prisoner in a Chinese Bakery (1964)
*Name Dropping: The Life and Lies of Alan King
*Is Salami and Eggs Better Than Sex? Memoirs of a
Happy Eater
*Matzoh Balls for Breakfast and Other Memories of
Growing Up Jewish (2005)

==External links==
* imdb name | id=0454418 | name=Alan King

==Sources==
* Author Unknown.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/05/09/obit.king.ap
/index.html Comic and actor Alan King dead at 76,
CNN. (May 9, 2004)
* Ephross, Peter.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=1
2226 Alan King a Model for Seinfeld, Crystal,
Jewish Journal.
* Author Unknown.
http://www.wnbc.com/entertainment/3295512/detail.h
tml Alan King Remembered As Comedic Terminator,
WNBC. (May 12, 2004)
* Weber, Bruce.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/10/arts/10KING.html
Alan King, Comic With Chutzpah, Dies at 76, New
York Times. (May 10, 2004)
*Williams, Stephen.
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/news/ny-a3798
104may13,0,3515959.story?coll=ny-nyc-entertainment
-headlines The Comic Laureate Of Long Island,
Newsday. (May 13, 2004)
*Vosburgh, Dick.
http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?st
ory=523283&host=3&dir=271 Master of the 'angry'
comic monologue, The Independent. (21 May 2004)
* Sen, Indrani
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/nyc-k
ing0509,0,1744312.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines
Alan King Dies at 76, Newsday. (May 2004)
*http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117904583?categ
oryid=25&cs=1 Comic Alan King Dead at 76, Variety.
(May 10, 2004)
* Cooper, Chet.
http://abilitymagazine.com/TkingAK.html
Prescription for Laughter: An Interview with Alan
King, Ability Magazine.
* Bernstein, Adam.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A133
34-2004May9.html Comedian and Actor Alan King Dies
at 76, Washington Post. (May 10, 2004)