 Having enjoyed a long and successful run on the east coast American Burlesque circuit, Benson travelled west to play Las Vegas for the first time in 1957, with the Minsky Follies show.Benson gained national exposure during the 1960s, when fellow vaudevillian Milton Berle hired him to play a faux heckler named Sidney Spritzer.The character would turn up in the balcony overlooking the stage of Berle's variety show (where the studio audience could see him) and banter with Berle about the host's alleged lack of talent and originality.