Mr. Griffin. Let’s focus strictly on the kind of joke that would be told in the club. Were there any kind of jokes you learned he didn’t permit to be told?
Mr. Palmer. He wouldn’t permit racial or religious jokes of obvious dirty nature. It was not uncommon for one master of ceremonies to tell several of his routine in colored dialect, Negro dialect, or Jewish dialect, but this was screened carefully, and he was very careful to see that it was not—it could have been risque, but not filthy. In other words, he ran a very close check on certain types of profanity. On the other hand, he was very free in permitting a master of ceremonies his choice of material.
Mr. Griffin. How did you happen to learn about this?
Mr. Palmer. Well, now, not myself first hand. It was by Earl Norman who complained to me one day that he had been telling this joke in Jack’s establishment for several weeks, and apparently Jack had not heard it, and asked him to delete it from his routine. Of course, this was a blow to Earl in two ways. First of all, being told what material to choose, and secondly, that he hadn’t been heard for 2 weeks.
Mr. Griffin. Do you remember what the joke was?
Mr. Palmer. I cannot. I have been trying to think what it was. It was an innocuous thing to me.
Mr. Griffin. Was it a religious joke or a racial joke? Or was it a sexual joke?
Mr. Palmer. I cannot honestly recall. It was an unimportant thing at the time to me. I talked to Jack about his censoring Earl in this particular instance, but as I recall, the joke wasn’t mentioned.
Mr. Griffin. Did you ever or did anybody ever tell you prior to the time that President Kennedy was assassinated that Jack didn’t permit them to tell jokes about the Kennedy family?
Mr. Palmer. On the contrary, I heard jokes about the Kennedy family and most other political figures in his establishment by Wally Weston. I don’t know whether—it was not a large part of his routine, but I believe I did hear him use them.