Politics & Power Quote by Jackie Mason

A joke like this lands because it pretends to be a statistic and then instantly reveals itself as a worldview. Jackie Mason sets you up with the cadence of a grim social fact - "Eighty percent" has the chilly authority of a survey - then swerves into a punchline that’s basically, Everyone cheats, they just have better scenery. The laugh comes from that whiplash: moral panic repackaged as travel comedy.

Mason’s specific intent isn’t to litigate infidelity; it’s to mock the way Americans talk about it. By pinning the remaining 20 percent on Europe, he’s not praising European sophistication so much as ridiculing an American appetite for self-deception. If cheating is inevitable, then the only thing left is branding: in America it’s a scandal; in Europe it’s a lifestyle choice, maybe even a cultural accessory. The line flatters and insults both sides at once, which is classic Mason: the audience gets to feel worldly and superior while also being told their institutions are a sham.

The subtext is darker than the breezy phrasing. Marriage, in this bit, isn’t romantic destiny; it’s a social contract with predictable leakage. Mason came up in an era when divorce still carried stigma and male misbehavior was often treated as a wink-wink inevitability. The joke turns that hypocrisy into a one-liner, letting the crowd laugh at an uncomfortable suspicion: virtue isn’t losing, it’s just booking a flight.