Born in
Buffalo, New York to a Jewish family, and raised in nearby
Lackawanna, Shawn performed his stand-up comedy act for over 35 years in nightclubs around the world. His award-winning one-man stage show,
The Second Greatest Entertainer in the Whole Wide World, was sometimes performed with a unique opening. When the audience entered the theater, they saw a bare stage with a pile of bricks in stage center. When the play began, Shawn emerged from the pile of bricks. The startling effect of this required complete concentration and breath control because the slightest movement of the bricks could ruin the surprise appearance. In addition to roles in more than 30 movies and seven Broadway productions, Shawn made television appearances, toured often, and periodically performed a one-man show that mixed songs, sketches, and pantomime. He was a speaker at the Friars Club Roasts in
Los Angeles and
New York. At one of the X-rated roasts (a 1986
Playboy roast of
Tommy Chong) that had overdosed on tasteless routines by previous speakers, Shawn walked up to the microphone, took a long pause, and "vomited" pea soup onto himself and other speakers at the dais. In the
Mel Brooks 1967 movie
The Producers, Shawn won accolades for his portrayal of Lorenzo St. DuBois, whose "friends call" him
LSD, an actor
auditioning for and winning the part of
Hitler in a theatrical production that was intentionally meant to fail. Shawn's television appearances included
The Ed Sullivan Show, TV movies, sitcoms (including ''
Three's Company'' on which he played
Jack Tripper's father), dramas including
The Fall Guy and
Magnum, P.I., and a music video for
"Dance" by the hair metal band
Ratt (1986). In the UK he appeared in
Sunday Night at the London Palladium in 1958. Amongst his roles in anthology TV series, he starred in an
Amazing Stories episode "Miss Stardust", directed by
Tobe Hooper, about a bizarre intergalactic
beauty pageant, and played the Emperor in ''
The Emperor's New Clothes'' for
Shelley Duvall's
Faerie Tale Theatre. He filled in for vacationing
Johnny Carson as guest host on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on January 1, 1971, which saw the airing of the last cigarette commercial on American television (for
Virginia Slims), one minute before the cigarette ads were banned. ==Personal life==