Join Robert Klein for a wide-open conversation about his childhood; his thoughts on the history of the Jewish people, antisemitism, the Holocaust, and Israel; his decades-long career as a performer; as well as the connection between music and comedy, including some of Klein’s “harmonica shtick.”
A conversation about becoming a comedianshow being Jewish intersects with their comedy and how older women are finding laughter in their second act in life.
Join Israeli-born, Long Island-raised comedian MODI, for a conversation about the healing power of laughter and how it can bring us together as a community.
Television historians Walter Podrazik and Harry Castleman discuss the often-overlooked Jewish backgrounds of several of the show’s actors.
Join Gold and Joe Alterman, executive director of Neranenah, for an in-depth conversation about the challenges facing today’s comedians—from censorship and the growing threat of cancel culture to the rise in antisemitism and its impact on telling jokes about one’s Jewish identity.
There are some days when you just need to laugh! Take a break from pundits and their predictions to savor the fine wine of Jewish jokes. William Novak, co-editor of The Big Book of Jewish Humor, hosts an hour of Jewish humor, including a few jokes you’ve never heard before.
How would God spin 21st-century problems? Emmy award-winning comedy writer David Javerbaum, former head writer and executive producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, has a few ideas! Javerbaum serves as “God’s ghost writer” in his new book, The Book of Pslams: 97 Divine Diatribes on Humanity’s Total Failure and is a veteran of other “God collaborations”—the Broadway show An Act of God and the popular twitter account @TheTweetofGod. He is in conversation with Michael Krasny, an award-winning journalist and retired public radio host of KQED Forum and the author of Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means. Come prepared to laugh your heart out!
London-based comedian Rachel Creeger, cohost of the podcast, “Jew Talkin’ To Me?”, talks about growing up in a traditional home and listening to the men in the family tell jokes on Shabbat and how it feels to now be the only Orthodox Jewish woman on the British comedy circuit. Rachel is in conversation with Michael Krasny, retired public radio host of KQED Forum and the author of Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means.
Both Rachel and Michael are part of the Moment Symposium “What is Your Favorite Jewish Joke – And Why?”
For veteran stand-up comedian Judy Gold, turning overbearing Jewish mothers into a shtick is an act of love and reverence.
In 1975, journalist and humorist Calvin Trillin wrote about Jacob Schiff and his uncle Ben Daynovsky in the first issue of Moment, trying to figure out why his family entered the United States through Texas and not Ellis Island. Join Calvin, in conversation with Moment’s opinion and book editor Amy E. Schwartz to hear an update on his Jacob Schiff adventures all these years later and what he’s thinking about and working on today.
Jewish jokes are a precious commodity and a special part of our heritage. Some of the best ones are worth looking at as succinct and entertaining expressions of our values. William Novak, co-editor of The Big Book of Jewish Humor, in print since 1981, explores some of the values behind the jokes and how they can be treated as secular Jewish texts. From well-known classics to relatively obscure examples, there is some history, commentary and plenty of laughs.
Have I Got a Cartoon for You! This zoominar is part of the Martha’s Vineyard Jewish Book Festival, in partnership with Moment Magazine, the Chilmark Library and the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center.
