Two Rabbis Walk Into a Bar...

Though there is a video on Youtube chronicling the Evolution of Dance, no such video exists for the Evolution of Comedy(a video involving The Three Stooges and two Richard Pryor clips doesn't count, especially when the opening song is by Bachman Turner Overdrive), which is a shame. And no, I'm not going to make an Evolution of Comedy video, if that's what you're thinking. What I am going to do I highlight a particular brand of humor that, according to a "New York Magazine" article, is fading fast.

Article writer, Mark Harris, contends that Jewish humor in American stems from the Jews' position as an outsider; an immigrant people who were forced to assimilate and oftentimes had trouble doing so. The comedy, he says, "emerged from a combination of pain and pride that now seems more historical than contemporary. Jewish humor has always struggled between extremes: The excluded outsider is also the smarty-pants; self-mockery tussles with self-aggrandizement; the prideful intellectual is also a slave to his basest appetites and most uncontrollable bodily functions." This fear and worry over assimilation and identity has been passed down through the generations, leading to the creation of comedy legends like the Marx Brothers, Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, etc. Each of these performers were born into and part of a society in which they were perceived, in some way, as an outsider.

Due to cultural changes that started in the 1970's, the Jew as outsider has slowly disappeared and the classic Jewish comedic archetypes are no longer featured as prominently in TV and movies. Contemporary funnymen like Jon Stewart are cited as being able to slip into an old school Jewish persona and then proceed to shrug it off. It is no longer essential to their comedy, nor is the feeling of being an outsider central to their life experience.

Amid this seeming loss of Jewish comedy, there are two men keeping the dream alive: Woody Allen and Larry David. Allen is famous for his nebbish New York Jew; an angst ridden individual who sees very little to be hopeful for and finds the human condition to be discouraging. Larry David, rather than being the self-reflective introvert like Allen, opts for the more out sized persona. David, both through "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" creates characters that are visibly uncomfortable with the world they inhabit and makes sure everyone knows it. His misery becomes everyone else's.

These two titans of Jewish humor recently teamed up to make a movie titled, "Whatever Works." According to Harris, watching the movie allows the viewer to,"...witness the Jewish man as funny–sad–barely functional Gloomy Gus come to life again and also to wonder if that guy still has any relevance in an age when American Jews don’t feel so bad about things, except on Yom Kippur."

For those hoping for an Allen revival, this movie might bring some hope. The screenplay is vintage, going back all the way to the early 1970's. It never got made for a variety of reasons and was brought back into the light because of the recent writer's strike. Whether the movie is a true return to form for Allen isn't here nor there. I think the important thing is that the comedic tradition is being kept alive and with any luck, being picked up by a new generation. This new generation includes Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow's ensemble, and the guys from Stella/The State (a.k.a Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black, David Wain) among others. Woody Allen once said, "tradition is the illusion of permanence." I hope the illusion will last just a little while longer.

EXTRAS:

"New York Magazine" has a handy timeline of Jewish comedians (It's a .pdf, though).

For those of you needing succinct and immediate examples of Jewish humor I submit to you, Old Jews Telling Jokes.

Tim Whatley: Uber-Jew


Also, although I can't attest to the fact that all the people are Jewish, I think Art Garfunkel's misguided attempt at artistry via "Bookends'" fifth track, "Voices of Old People" is a classic example of old school kvetching. "I still haven't gone to the doctor. I've been coughing up blood for the past 48 hours and I can't get up the mucus for the past two or three months..." The way the guy says mucus is priceless.