A Brief but Spectacular History of Jewish Comedy
Hosted By: My Jewish Learning
The Jewish sensibility seems part of comedy’s DNA, or maybe it’s comedy that’s got Jewish DNA. In the United States, the influence is unmistakable. As Nobel Prize-winning novelist Saul Bellow said: “Oppressed people tend to be witty.”
In this multimedia online show, David Misch (“Mork and Mindy,” “Saturday Night Live,” “The Muppets Take Manhattan,” “Funny: The Book”) looks at the interaction between comedy and Jews, born of a fatalistic sensibility that sees irony everywhere, often expressed by sarcasm. (If a Jew says “Good thinking, Einstein,” it’s not a compliment.)
You’ll take a tour through recent history and the development of comedy in the U.S., as expressed in the works of comics ranging from Mel Brooks to Sarah Silverman.
And lucky for you — all registrants get to keep the event recording! So you can re-live David’s jokes over and over again.
