Self-deprecating Jewish Humor: Ill Effects?

[robertoart]

What were you saying?

in which post?

It was a rhetorical question. It's said at the end of the Ulla clip.

Back to 'Self-deprecating Jewish Humor: Ill Effects' if anyone can add anything.

[Tim McG]

A Jewish Comedy style...you bet there is!

Stand-up comics have been doing that schtick for decades.

[thedwork]

A Jewish Comedy style...you bet there is!

could you describe it for us?

[Tim McG]

A Jewish Comedy style...you bet there is!

could you describe it for us?

Being a mere Gentile I wouldn't do it justice. But there are several comics you might want to watch who, IMHO, exemplify that style of humor. It is a style or manner of delivery of the lines which are unique to Jewish humor.

A short list:

Glenn Hirsch

Jerry Seinfeld

John Stewart

Mel Brooks [more of a writer than comedian]

Marty Feldman

Gilda Radner

Woody Allen

Louis Nye

Carl Reiner

Mort Sahl

George Burns

Some were more edgy like:

Andy Kaufman

Lenny Bruce

Lewis Black

To down right silly:

Milton Berle

Jack Benny

Sid Ceasar

Bottom line: There is a definable delivery style of the lines and of the types of humor that sets it apart from strictly ethnic humor or country humor as two examples.

A Wiki source, but gives a fairly good definition of the style, I think: Jewish-American Comedy

Edited August 7, 2012 by GoodSpeak

[JSngry]

No Myron Cohen?

I love Sarah Silverman, btw, and have both intellectual and carnal lusts to know her. Post all the Sarah Silverman video in the world right here, and I will watch it.

[Pete C]

Post all the Sarah Silverman video in the world right here, and I will watch it.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/sarah-silverman-offers-sheldon-adelson-349590

[JSngry]

Post all the Sarah Silverman video in the world right here, and I will watch it.

http://www.hollywood...-adelson-349590

[Pete C]

Post all the Sarah Silverman video in the world right here, and I will watch it.

http://www.hollywood...-adelson-349590

What goes around comes around.

[JSngry]

If only!

[Tim McG]

No Myron Cohen?

I love Sarah Silverman, btw, and have both intellectual and carnal lusts to know her. Post all the Sarah Silverman video in the world right here, and I will watch it.

Well...I did say it was a short list, Jim.

I love Myron Cohen, too :-)

Here are a few more comedians I think typify the genre:

Rodney Dangerfield

Madeline Khan

Shelley Berman

Then, of course, there's the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges.

Classic stuff, IMHO.

Edited August 7, 2012 by GoodSpeak

[thedwork]

A Jewish Comedy style...you bet there is!

could you describe it for us?

...there are several comics you might want to watch who, IMHO, exemplify that style of humor. It is a style or manner of delivery of the lines which are unique to Jewish humor.

A short list:

Glenn Hirsch

Jerry Seinfeld

John Stewart

Mel Brooks [more of a writer than comedian]

Marty Feldman

Gilda Radner

Woody Allen

Louis Nye

Carl Reiner

Mort Sahl

George Burns

Some were more edgy like:

Andy Kaufman

Lenny Bruce

Lewis Black

To down right silly:

Milton Berle

Jack Benny

Sid Ceasar

Bottom line: There is a definable delivery style of the lines and of the types of humor that sets it apart from strictly ethnic humor or country humor as two examples.

A Wiki source, but gives a fairly good definition of the style, I think: Jewish-American Comedy

Here are a few more comedians I think typify the genre:

Rodney Dangerfield

Madeline Khan

Shelley Berman

Then, of course, there's the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges.

Classic stuff, IMHO.

Three Stooges

Andy Kaufman

Lenny Bruce

Lewis Black

Marty Feldman

Gilda Radner

Woody Allen

Jerry Seinfeld

John Stewart

Mel Brooks

etc...

i personally don't see that as a list that shows any type of singular style of comedy. as matter of fact, i see that as showing just the opposite: there is so much stylistic variation in that list as to show that there is not a "typical" Jewish style of humor. sure they may all be Jewish but... it's like saying there's a typical Black style of playing jazz saxophone and then listing Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Anthony Braxton, Kenny Garrett, Dewey Redman, and Joe McPhee to prove the point.

interestingly, the wiki link you provided that you say "gives a fairly good definition of the style," says virtually nothing about style. here's the entirety of what it says on the subject:

Jewish comedy has often featured ridicule and insult jokes, including insulting other minority groups... Characteristics of comedians include wit, verbal skills, self-mockery, and a "critical edge"

from my experience, all of the things listed there - insult jokes, wit, verbal skills, self-mockery, "critical edge" - are simply elements of most good comedy performers/writers arsenal no matter what their background. ok, maybe not insult jokes... but seriously, who in their right mind thinks that "wit" and "verbal skills" are found mainly in Jewish comedy and not all good comedy?! it's absurd.

the little wiki article also says this:

"Some common themes among American Jewish comedians include their heritage as Jews, experience of living between two worlds (ethnic and mainstream), anxiety of living as a minority in America and the foibles of American culture."

this is definitely true, but that stuff is content, not style. anyone can feel free to see that as a semantic point. but you'd be wrong. content is definitely not style. it may contribute to it, but it's not it. not by the longest shot. i think there are things that many Jewish comedians (but by not by any means all...) generally share in terms of content but not necessarily style. and even some of those content things are not as specific to Jewish comedy as one may initially think. take, say, the wiki example of "Anxiety of living as a minority in America." ok. Jewish comedians certainly joke/write about that. but so do Black comedians. and i assume so do Hispanic comedians. and i can think of a bit off the top of my head that Bill Burr does about being the White minority in Harlem. it's not only a Jewish thing. or the 1st thing the wiki article lists as a Jewish theme: "[Their] heritage." ALL comedians use their heritage for material. and since certain styles and contents aren't only Jewish, it doesn't seem right to me to call them "Jewish Comedy."

all that being said, i'd assume that there are some things in some Jewish stand-up and comedy writing that are somewhat unique (but not exclusive) to Jewish performers/writers. maybe a certain intellectual underpinning? but i dunno 'bout that. i wouldn't necessarily hold Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow up as intellectual humorists. and i'd also certainly say there are plenty of non-Jewish comedians who are quite "intellectual" - Bob Newhart comes to mind. maybe incorporating content on psychotherapy is pretty Jewy (though of course i just mentioned Newhart...). but yeah, that's it. joking about seeing your shrink. totally Jewy...

Edited August 8, 2012 by thedwork

[robertoart]

Deadpan humour is something that comes to mind when I think of Jewish comedians.

Steven Wright takes that to absurdist levels. Is he Jewish?

Also with regard to the Black saxophonists reference, isn't there a common denominator present in the blues, or 'the cry of the blues' or 'the sound of the blues' or whatever. Anomalies like Braxton notwithstanding. Perhaps it's social because nearly all the great Black saxophonists learnt their craft playing in earthier Black music bands.

I still feel there is some overarching 'thing' in Jewish humour, same as I do in British humour, which has both an intellectual academic kind of humour (like Peter Cook, Stephen Fry, Pythons etc) and the 'working class' humour of Kenneth Williams and the Carry On gang, Benny Hill and myriads of half hour 'situation comedies'.

And the lists in this thread begs another question, 'what great American comedian's weren't Jewish or Black". Which surely says something.

Edited August 8, 2012 by freelancer

[Larry Kart]

Deadpan humour is something that comes to mind when I think of Jewish comedians.

Steven Wright takes that to absurdist levels. Is he Jewish?

Also with regard to the Black saxophonists reference, isn't there a common denominator present in the blues, or 'the cry of the blues' or 'the sound of the blues' or whatever. Anomalies like Braxton notwithstanding. Perhaps it's social because nearly all the great Black saxophonists learnt their craft playing in earthier Black music bands.

I still feel there is some overarching 'thing' in Jewish humour, same as I do in British humour, which has both an intellectual academic kind of humour (like Peter Cook, Stephen Fry, Pythons etc) and the 'working class' humour of Kenneth Williams and the Carry On gang, Benny Hill and myriads of half hour 'situation comedies'.

And the lists in this thread begs another question, 'what great American comedian's weren't Jewish or Black". Which surely says something.

One on that list would be George Gobel. Not to my taste, but there's Will Rogers. Buster Keaton. Fatty Arbuckle. Harold Lloyd. Dick Van Dyke. Jackie Gleason. Fred Allen. Steve Martin. Johnny Carson. A little late for me for list-making, but you get the idea.

[cih]

I think there are certainly styles in which the ethnic content fits the delivery - the ultimate in my mind being Groucho I guess (didn't George Kaufman write 'Jewish' lines for Groucho in response to watching his act?) - quickfire unpredictable delivery which is ironic and subtly aggressive, and takes the upper hand in any exchange - it's hard to read Groucho's dialogue without hearing his voice

Unlike the kind of double consciousness that you can associate with African Americans, the Jewish joke seems to be about being unconscious of their 'difference' from the upper echelons, as in Groucho's story about Otto Kahn walking down fifth Avenue with a deformed friend. Kahn says: "You know, I used to be a Jew." His friend replies: "Really? I used to be a hunchback."

When his daughter was barred from an anti-semitic swimming club: "She's only half Jewish. How about if she only goes in up to her waist?"

all this is very Jewish material wedded to a particular delivery but it's just one style of many I think, I find it hard to think of Marty Feldman's humour as being anything other than British. This is a funny (and probably irrelevant) clip of him arguing with Johnny Speight on TV which reminded me of some conversations on forums like this one:

Edited August 8, 2012 by cih

[robertoart]

Luv. Darling.

[robertoart]

Deadpan humour is something that comes to mind when I think of Jewish comedians.

Steven Wright takes that to absurdist levels. Is he Jewish?

Also with regard to the Black saxophonists reference, isn't there a common denominator present in the blues, or 'the cry of the blues' or 'the sound of the blues' or whatever. Anomalies like Braxton notwithstanding. Perhaps it's social because nearly all the great Black saxophonists learnt their craft playing in earthier Black music bands.

I still feel there is some overarching 'thing' in Jewish humour, same as I do in British humour, which has both an intellectual academic kind of humour (like Peter Cook, Stephen Fry, Pythons etc) and the 'working class' humour of Kenneth Williams and the Carry On gang, Benny Hill and myriads of half hour 'situation comedies'.

And the lists in this thread begs another question, 'what great American comedian's weren't Jewish or Black". Which surely says something.

One on that list would be George Gobel. Not to my taste, but there's Will Rogers. Buster Keaton. Fatty Arbuckle. Harold Lloyd. Dick Van Dyke. Jackie Gleason. Fred Allen. Steve Martin. Johnny Carson. A little late for me for list-making, but you get the idea.

It's a good list, but it doesn't have the volume or overall magic of the Jewish contingent. George Carlin? would make a non-jewish list for sure.

Poor old Fatty Arbuckle. Didn't he get framed for a murder he didn't commit. My dad used to love him.

[Larry Kart]

A fair number of immortals here:

W.C. Fields. Bob Newhart. Richard Pryor. Slappy White. Moms Mabley. Red Foxx. Edgar Bergen. Bob and Ray. Stan Freberg. Victor Borge. Lord Buckley. Tim Conway. Bill Cosby. Phyllis Diller. Jonathan Winters. Brother Dave Gardner. Dick Gregory. Homer and Jethro. Bob Hope. Sam Kinison. Godfrey Cambridge. Don Knotts. Ernie Kovacs. Laurel and Hardy. Tom Lehrer. Pat McCormick. Martin Mull. Eddie Murphy. Herb Shriner. Red Skelton. Smothers Brothers. Lilty Tomlin. Robin Williams. Flip Wilson.

[Pete C]

A fair number of immortals here:

I assume you're not responding to the query about comics who were neither Jewish nor black.

I had no idea Phyllis Diller and Homer and Jethro were immortal.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Pete C

[Larry Kart]

A fair number of immortals here:

I assume you're not responding to the query about comics who were neither Jewish nor black.

I had no idea Phyllis Diller and Homer and Jethro were immortal.

Didn't see that "or black" restriction. I'd say that the following are all immortals or close to it: W.C. Fields. Bob Newhart. Bob and Ray. Stan Freberg. Jonathan Winters. Bob Hope. Ernie Kovacs. Laurel and Hardy. Red Skelton.

[Tim McG]

A Jewish Comedy style...you bet there is!

could you describe it for us?

...there are several comics you might want to watch who, IMHO, exemplify that style of humor. It is a style or manner of delivery of the lines which are unique to Jewish humor.

A short list:

Glenn Hirsch

Jerry Seinfeld

John Stewart

Mel Brooks [more of a writer than comedian]

Marty Feldman

Gilda Radner

Woody Allen

Louis Nye

Carl Reiner

Mort Sahl

George Burns

Some were more edgy like:

Andy Kaufman

Lenny Bruce

Lewis Black

To down right silly:

Milton Berle

Jack Benny

Sid Ceasar

Bottom line: There is a definable delivery style of the lines and of the types of humor that sets it apart from strictly ethnic humor or country humor as two examples.

A Wiki source, but gives a fairly good definition of the style, I think: Jewish-American Comedy

Here are a few more comedians I think typify the genre:

Rodney Dangerfield

Madeline Khan

Shelley Berman

Then, of course, there's the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges.

Classic stuff, IMHO.

Three Stooges

Andy Kaufman

Lenny Bruce

Lewis Black

Marty Feldman

Gilda Radner

Woody Allen

Jerry Seinfeld

John Stewart

Mel Brooks

etc...

i personally don't see that as a list that shows any type of singular style of comedy. as matter of fact, i see that as showing just the opposite: there is so much stylistic variation in that list as to show that there is not a "typical" Jewish style of humor. sure they may all be Jewish but... it's like saying there's a typical Black style of playing jazz saxophone and then listing Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Anthony Braxton, Kenny Garrett, Dewey Redman, and Joe McPhee to prove the point.

interestingly, the wiki link you provided that you say "gives a fairly good definition of the style," says virtually nothing about style. here's the entirety of what it says on the subject:

Jewish comedy has often featured ridicule and insult jokes, including insulting other minority groups... Characteristics of comedians include wit, verbal skills, self-mockery, and a "critical edge"

from my experience, all of the things listed there - insult jokes, wit, verbal skills, self-mockery, "critical edge" - are simply elements of most good comedy performers/writers arsenal no matter what their background. ok, maybe not insult jokes... but seriously, who in their right mind thinks that "wit" and "verbal skills" are found mainly in Jewish comedy and not all good comedy?! it's absurd.

the little wiki article also says this:

"Some common themes among American Jewish comedians include their heritage as Jews, experience of living between two worlds (ethnic and mainstream), anxiety of living as a minority in America and the foibles of American culture."

this is definitely true, but that stuff is content, not style. anyone can feel free to see that as a semantic point. but you'd be wrong. content is definitely not style. it may contribute to it, but it's not it. not by the longest shot. i think there are things that many Jewish comedians (but by not by any means all...) generally share in terms of content but not necessarily style. and even some of those content things are not as specific to Jewish comedy as one may initially think. take, say, the wiki example of "Anxiety of living as a minority in America." ok. Jewish comedians certainly joke/write about that. but so do Black comedians. and i assume so do Hispanic comedians. and i can think of a bit off the top of my head that Bill Burr does about being the White minority in Harlem. it's not only a Jewish thing. or the 1st thing the wiki article lists as a Jewish theme: "[Their] heritage." ALL comedians use their heritage for material. and since certain styles and contents aren't only Jewish, it doesn't seem right to me to call them "Jewish Comedy."

all that being said, i'd assume that there are some things in some Jewish stand-up and comedy writing that are somewhat unique (but not exclusive) to Jewish performers/writers. maybe a certain intellectual underpinning? but i dunno 'bout that. i wouldn't necessarily hold Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow up as intellectual humorists. and i'd also certainly say there are plenty of non-Jewish comedians who are quite "intellectual" - Bob Newhart comes to mind. maybe incorporating content on psychotherapy is pretty Jewy (though of course i just mentioned Newhart...). but yeah, that's it. joking about seeing your shrink. totally Jewy...

From that same Wiki source:

Themes [1] and styles [2]

[1] Some common themes among American Jewish comedians include their heritage as Jews, experience of living between two worlds (ethnic and mainstream), anxiety of living as a minority in America and the foibles of American culture. Jewish comedy has often featured ridicule and insult jokes, including insulting other minority groups.

[2] Characteristics of comedians include wit, verbal skills, self-mockery, and a "critical edge".

Theme leads to content. Style, however, includes the non-verbal and/or visual aspect to the spoken word. The inflection of the voice, the wry smile, the engagement of the audience, the panache or je ne sais quoi during the delivery of the jokes/punchlines which set this humor apart from other styles. How, one might posit, does anyone verbalize a "critical edge"?

I added the delivery aspect to the timing and manner in which the jokes are spoken. There is a certain "laugh-at-yourself" style unique to Jewish-American Comedy. Glenn Hirsch has it down pat, IMHO. It's there, you just have to watch and listen.

Surely you aren't suggesting all humor/comedians are the same now, are you? Could you see a difference in style between say Larry the Cable Guy or Richard Pryor? If not, then maybe others here can do a better job of explaining than I can.

Edited August 8, 2012 by GoodSpeak

[thedwork]

A Jewish Comedy style...you bet there is!

could you describe it for us?

...there are several comics you might want to watch who, IMHO, exemplify that style of humor. It is a style or manner of delivery of the lines which are unique to Jewish humor.

A short list:

Glenn Hirsch

Jerry Seinfeld

John Stewart

Mel Brooks [more of a writer than comedian]

Marty Feldman

Gilda Radner

Woody Allen

Louis Nye

Carl Reiner

Mort Sahl

George Burns

Some were more edgy like:

Andy Kaufman

Lenny Bruce

Lewis Black

To down right silly:

Milton Berle

Jack Benny

Sid Ceasar

Bottom line: There is a definable delivery style of the lines and of the types of humor that sets it apart from strictly ethnic humor or country humor as two examples.

A Wiki source, but gives a fairly good definition of the style, I think: Jewish-American Comedy

Here are a few more comedians I think typify the genre:

Rodney Dangerfield

Madeline Khan

Shelley Berman

Then, of course, there's the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges.

Classic stuff, IMHO.

Three Stooges

Andy Kaufman

Lenny Bruce

Lewis Black

Marty Feldman

Gilda Radner

Woody Allen

Jerry Seinfeld

John Stewart

Mel Brooks

etc...

i personally don't see that as a list that shows any type of singular style of comedy. as matter of fact, i see that as showing just the opposite: there is so much stylistic variation in that list as to show that there is not a "typical" Jewish style of humor. sure they may all be Jewish but... it's like saying there's a typical Black style of playing jazz saxophone and then listing Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Anthony Braxton, Kenny Garrett, Dewey Redman, and Joe McPhee to prove the point.

interestingly, the wiki link you provided that you say "gives a fairly good definition of the style," says virtually nothing about style. here's the entirety of what it says on the subject:

Jewish comedy has often featured ridicule and insult jokes, including insulting other minority groups... Characteristics of comedians include wit, verbal skills, self-mockery, and a "critical edge"

from my experience, all of the things listed there - insult jokes, wit, verbal skills, self-mockery, "critical edge" - are simply elements of most good comedy performers/writers arsenal no matter what their background. ok, maybe not insult jokes... but seriously, who in their right mind thinks that "wit" and "verbal skills" are found mainly in Jewish comedy and not all good comedy?! it's absurd.

the little wiki article also says this:

"Some common themes among American Jewish comedians include their heritage as Jews, experience of living between two worlds (ethnic and mainstream), anxiety of living as a minority in America and the foibles of American culture."

this is definitely true, but that stuff is content, not style. anyone can feel free to see that as a semantic point. but you'd be wrong. content is definitely not style. it may contribute to it, but it's not it. not by the longest shot. i think there are things that many Jewish comedians (but by not by any means all...) generally share in terms of content but not necessarily style. and even some of those content things are not as specific to Jewish comedy as one may initially think. take, say, the wiki example of "Anxiety of living as a minority in America." ok. Jewish comedians certainly joke/write about that. but so do Black comedians. and i assume so do Hispanic comedians. and i can think of a bit off the top of my head that Bill Burr does about being the White minority in Harlem. it's not only a Jewish thing. or the 1st thing the wiki article lists as a Jewish theme: "[Their] heritage." ALL comedians use their heritage for material. and since certain styles and contents aren't only Jewish, it doesn't seem right to me to call them "Jewish Comedy."

all that being said, i'd assume that there are some things in some Jewish stand-up and comedy writing that are somewhat unique (but not exclusive) to Jewish performers/writers. maybe a certain intellectual underpinning? but i dunno 'bout that. i wouldn't necessarily hold Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow up as intellectual humorists. and i'd also certainly say there are plenty of non-Jewish comedians who are quite "intellectual" - Bob Newhart comes to mind. maybe incorporating content on psychotherapy is pretty Jewy (though of course i just mentioned Newhart...). but yeah, that's it. joking about seeing your shrink. totally Jewy...

From that same Wiki source:

Themes [1] and styles [2]

[1] Some common themes among American Jewish comedians include their heritage as Jews, experience of living between two worlds (ethnic and mainstream), anxiety of living as a minority in America and the foibles of American culture. Jewish comedy has often featured ridicule and insult jokes, including insulting other minority groups.

[2] Characteristics of comedians include wit, verbal skills, self-mockery, and a "critical edge".

Theme leads to content. Style, however, includes the non-verbal and/or visual aspect to the spoken word. The inflection of the voice, the wry smile, the engagement of the audience, the panache or je ne sais quoi during the delivery of the jokes/punchlines which set this humor apart from other styles. How, one might posit, does anyone verbalize a "critical edge"?

I added the delivery aspect to the timing and manner in which the jokes are spoken. There is a certain "laugh-at-yourself" style unique to Jewish-American Comedy. Glenn Hirsch has it down pat, IMHO. It's there, you just have to watch and listen.

Surely you aren't suggesting all humor/comedians are the same now, are you? Could you see a difference in style between say Larry the Cable Guy or Richard Pryor? If not, then maybe others here can do a better job of explaining than I can.

well... if it wasn't crystal clear before, it is now. last straw and certainly not worth any more energy/time. peace out goodspeak...

[Tim McG]

A Jewish Comedy style...you bet there is!

could you describe it for us?

...there are several comics you might want to watch who, IMHO, exemplify that style of humor. It is a style or manner of delivery of the lines which are unique to Jewish humor.

A short list:

Glenn Hirsch

Jerry Seinfeld

John Stewart

Mel Brooks [more of a writer than comedian]

Marty Feldman

Gilda Radner

Woody Allen

Louis Nye

Carl Reiner

Mort Sahl

George Burns

Some were more edgy like:

Andy Kaufman

Lenny Bruce

Lewis Black

To down right silly:

Milton Berle

Jack Benny

Sid Ceasar

Bottom line: There is a definable delivery style of the lines and of the types of humor that sets it apart from strictly ethnic humor or country humor as two examples.

A Wiki source, but gives a fairly good definition of the style, I think: Jewish-American Comedy

Here are a few more comedians I think typify the genre:

Rodney Dangerfield

Madeline Khan

Shelley Berman

Then, of course, there's the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges.

Classic stuff, IMHO.

Three Stooges

Andy Kaufman

Lenny Bruce

Lewis Black

Marty Feldman

Gilda Radner

Woody Allen

Jerry Seinfeld

John Stewart

Mel Brooks

etc...

i personally don't see that as a list that shows any type of singular style of comedy. as matter of fact, i see that as showing just the opposite: there is so much stylistic variation in that list as to show that there is not a "typical" Jewish style of humor. sure they may all be Jewish but... it's like saying there's a typical Black style of playing jazz saxophone and then listing Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Anthony Braxton, Kenny Garrett, Dewey Redman, and Joe McPhee to prove the point.

interestingly, the wiki link you provided that you say "gives a fairly good definition of the style," says virtually nothing about style. here's the entirety of what it says on the subject:

Jewish comedy has often featured ridicule and insult jokes, including insulting other minority groups... Characteristics of comedians include wit, verbal skills, self-mockery, and a "critical edge"

from my experience, all of the things listed there - insult jokes, wit, verbal skills, self-mockery, "critical edge" - are simply elements of most good comedy performers/writers arsenal no matter what their background. ok, maybe not insult jokes... but seriously, who in their right mind thinks that "wit" and "verbal skills" are found mainly in Jewish comedy and not all good comedy?! it's absurd.

the little wiki article also says this:

"Some common themes among American Jewish comedians include their heritage as Jews, experience of living between two worlds (ethnic and mainstream), anxiety of living as a minority in America and the foibles of American culture."

this is definitely true, but that stuff is content, not style. anyone can feel free to see that as a semantic point. but you'd be wrong. content is definitely not style. it may contribute to it, but it's not it. not by the longest shot. i think there are things that many Jewish comedians (but by not by any means all...) generally share in terms of content but not necessarily style. and even some of those content things are not as specific to Jewish comedy as one may initially think. take, say, the wiki example of "Anxiety of living as a minority in America." ok. Jewish comedians certainly joke/write about that. but so do Black comedians. and i assume so do Hispanic comedians. and i can think of a bit off the top of my head that Bill Burr does about being the White minority in Harlem. it's not only a Jewish thing. or the 1st thing the wiki article lists as a Jewish theme: "[Their] heritage." ALL comedians use their heritage for material. and since certain styles and contents aren't only Jewish, it doesn't seem right to me to call them "Jewish Comedy."

all that being said, i'd assume that there are some things in some Jewish stand-up and comedy writing that are somewhat unique (but not exclusive) to Jewish performers/writers. maybe a certain intellectual underpinning? but i dunno 'bout that. i wouldn't necessarily hold Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow up as intellectual humorists. and i'd also certainly say there are plenty of non-Jewish comedians who are quite "intellectual" - Bob Newhart comes to mind. maybe incorporating content on psychotherapy is pretty Jewy (though of course i just mentioned Newhart...). but yeah, that's it. joking about seeing your shrink. totally Jewy...

From that same Wiki source:

Themes [1] and styles [2]

[1] Some common themes among American Jewish comedians include their heritage as Jews, experience of living between two worlds (ethnic and mainstream), anxiety of living as a minority in America and the foibles of American culture. Jewish comedy has often featured ridicule and insult jokes, including insulting other minority groups.

[2] Characteristics of comedians include wit, verbal skills, self-mockery, and a "critical edge".

Theme leads to content. Style, however, includes the non-verbal and/or visual aspect to the spoken word. The inflection of the voice, the wry smile, the engagement of the audience, the panache or je ne sais quoi during the delivery of the jokes/punchlines which set this humor apart from other styles. How, one might posit, does anyone verbalize a "critical edge"?

I added the delivery aspect to the timing and manner in which the jokes are spoken. There is a certain "laugh-at-yourself" style unique to Jewish-American Comedy. Glenn Hirsch has it down pat, IMHO. It's there, you just have to watch and listen.

Surely you aren't suggesting all humor/comedians are the same now, are you? Could you see a difference in style between say Larry the Cable Guy or Richard Pryor? If not, then maybe others here can do a better job of explaining than I can.

well... if it wasn't crystal clear before, it is now. last straw and certainly not worth any more energy/time. peace out goodspeak...

Hm.

Not sure what you mean here, but hey...no offense intended, Thedwork.

[Pete C]

Didn't see that "or black" restriction. I'd say that the following are all immortals or close to it: W.C. Fields. Bob Newhart. Bob and Ray. Stan Freberg. Jonathan Winters. Bob Hope. Ernie Kovacs. Laurel and Hardy. Red Skelton.

I'll agree on most, though maybe I'm missing the immortality of Red Skelton because I grew up with the unbearably maudlin TV version. Incidentally, Larry, Tom Lehrer is Jewish.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Pete C

[AllenLowe]

actually, there's a true story about how the Jews got into showbusiness - it goes back to the Egyptians, who had the Jewish slaves working on the pyramids - the masters used to come around with their friends, and say "hey Jew; do that thing you do; you know, be charming." So we really had no choice.

of course, when we looked at those Pyramids we said, "Oi Veh, we forgot the windows!" That's why we had to get the hell out of Egypt so fast.

[Pete C]

of course, when we looked at those Pyramids we said, "Oi Veh, we forgot the windows!" That's why we had to get the hell out of Egypt so fast.

It was all because of Moses Madoff's pyramid scheme.