I offered, by the way, to have a joke-off with King onstage. He declined, saying he tells stories not jokes.
I, obviously, prefer both.
Would that there were world and time enough to include many others since many other Jewish jokes continue to hold up through the years. Like the one in which a Jew is standing in the middle of the Warsaw train station with several suitcases. He needs to use the bathroom so he asks a passerby:
“Excuse me, sir, are you an anti-Semite?”
“No, of course not!” the man replies. “I am actually quite fond of Jews.”
The Jew thanks him and asks the next passerby, “Excuse me, sir, are you an anti-Semite?”
“Absolutely not! We love the Jews! We hid Jews at our house during the war!”
The Jew thanks him and asks the same question to the next passerby: “Excuse me, sir, are you an anti-Semite?”
“I most certainly am! I hate the filthy Jews! Our country would be better off without them!”
“At last, an honest man!” says the Jew. “Would you mind watching my bags while I go to the bathroom?”
I have tried to explain thematic meaning in the great Jewish jokes, but what of humor from Jews that defies explanation in terms of any Jewish theme? Humor from Jewish comics that brings laughter simply because the joke or the bit is funny? Was Andy Kaufman’s weird and offbeat brand of humor tied in any way to his being Jewish? What of other comics who happen to be Jewish but have created their own original brands? Such as Paul Reubens (a.k.a. Pee-wee Herman) or Gilbert Gottfried? Or what of the satiric humor of the raunchy, oversexed, brilliant Howard Stern. The self-proclaimed king of all media is, in reality, the king of Jewish bad boys who sprinkles his shtick with Yiddish. Stern assumed the role on his radio show, not too long ago, of an Indian-accented (therefore outsourced) adviser answering phone calls on “the ISIS Hotline.” He fielded questions. Like one about the best way to behead a Jew.
Humor out of suffering? Dark humor? Yes. But Stern’s humor, except when he is tearing himself down or ridiculing others, is often difficult to pigeonhole. There is, however, the Jewish lineage—what he calls the major humor influence of his youth—the Jewish guys who gave us Mad magazine.
Hard to classify, I would add, is the madcap humor of Sacha Baron Cohen. He managed, as his character Bruno, to fool a former Mossad agent and a Palestinian academic into at least initially believing he was questioning them seriously in Jerusalem about the connection between Hamas and hummus.
In these pages, there is a tremendous and often hilarious range of tribal humor. The Jewish jokes, stories, and anecdotes, I hope, have brought and will continue to bring laughter. They should also bring deep appreciation for the remarkably wide-ranging genius of Jewish comedy. Like Jewish food, the jokes and humor feed memory, emotion, nostalgia, identity, community, and longing. Perhaps, as important, they can bring wisdom and meaning. The world will continue to change, often in ways that challenge, plague, and haunt us. But my hope is that the jokes and the humor will remain an ongoing part of many lives for, well, at least the next few thousand years.
Acknowledgments
I want to thank the friends who helped with suggestions or gave thoughtful responses or advice. Thanks to Rita Abrams, Rita Gershengorn, Jerry Jurinsky, Harlan Kleiman, Nikki Meredith, Gerry Nachman, Owen Renick, Judy Rich, Howard Schatz, David Spiegel, Loretta Stec, Manfred Wolf, and Dan Zoll. My gratitude to the great HarperCollins team of Alieza Schvimer, Amy Bendell, Lisa Sharkey, Emily Homonoff, Molly Waxman, Ryan Cury, Stephanie Vallejo, Mumtaz Mustafa, Bonni Leon-Berman, Sharyn Rosenblum and to my inimitable agent, Amy Rennert. Finally—special bountiful thanks to my wife and kids for their support and inspiration.
About the Author
Michael Krasny, Ph.D., is a scholar and professor of English and American literature, an award-winning broadcast journalist, and the author of two acclaimed books, Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life and Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic’s Quest. He released a twenty-four-lecture series in two volumes called Masterpieces of Short Fiction for The Teaching Company, which is also available in audio and DVD format. Since 1993 he has been the host of Forum with Michael Krasny, a news and public affairs interview program produced at KQED Radio, the National Public Radio affiliate in San Francisco, California. The program is the most-listened-to locally produced public radio program in the United States, and the number one program in its morning time slot in the San Francisco Bay Area market. Forum can also be heard on SiriusXM, Comcast, iTunes, and across the Internet.
Credits
Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa
Cover photograph © Kemter / Getty Images
Copyright
let there be laughter. Copyright © 2016 by Michael Krasny. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
first edition
Digital Edition SEPTEMBER 2016 ISBN: 978-0-06-242205-7
ISBN 978-0-06-242204-0
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