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Henry "Henny" Youngman (March 16, 1906 – February 24, 1998) was a British-born comedian and violinist famous for "one-liners," short, simple jokes usually delivered rapid-fire. His best known (and oft misattributed) one-liner was "Take my wife—please". In a time when most comedians told elaborate anecdotes, Youngman’s comedy routine consisted of telling simple one-liner jokes, occasionally with interludes of violin playing. These gags depicted simple, cartoon-like situations, eliminating lengthy build-ups and going straight to the punch line. He was known as the King of the One Liners, a title bestowed upon him by columnist Walter Winchell. A typical stage performance by Youngman lasted only fifteen to twenty minutes, but contained dozens of jokes, spouted in rapid-fire fashion. Youngman was born in Liverpool, England, and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, when he was young. He grew up in New York City, and his career as a comedian began after he had worked for a number of years at a print shop, where he penned and published a large number of “comedy cards”—cards containing one-line gags that were sold at the shop. The comedy cards were discovered by up-and-coming professional comedian Milton Berle, who encouraged Youngman and formed a close working friendship with him. Berle quipped about his friend, "The only thing funnier than Henny`s jokes is his violin playing." Youngman made numerous appearances on television, including a long-running stint on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. In 1955 he was host of a TV series titled The Henny and Rocky Show, appearing with champion boxer Rocky Graziano. He had cameo appearances in several movies, including History of the World, Part I and Goodfellas. He had a larger role in Herschell Gordon Lewis`s The Gore Gore Girls , a fact he denied vehemently. He made a few recordings, most notably The Primitive Side of Henny Youngman, recorded "live" in St. Louis and released by National Recording Corporation on the NRC label. The CD is still in print. His published autobiography is entitled Take My Life, Please!. Youngman`s last movie appearance before his death was in the Daniel Robert Cohn film Eyes Beyond Seeing, in which he has a cameo as a mental patient claiming to be Henny Youngman.

Youngman developed pneumonia and died on February 24, 1998, at the age of 91. He is interred in the Mount Carmel Cemetery, Glendale, New York, next to his wife, Sadie. With the exception of a week following his wife`s death, and the month he was in his final hospital stay, Henny was renowned for having worked almost every day for over 45 years without vacations or other breaks.