The Great Jewish Comedians: Lou Jacobi Teaches Jewish 101

Lou Jacobi (1913-2009)  was born Louis Harold Jacobovitch in Toronto, Ontario. Jacobi began acting as a boy, making his stage debut in 1924 at a Toronto theater, playing a violin prodigy in The Rabbi and the Priest. 

After working as the drama director of the Toronto Y.M.H.A., the social director at a summer resort, a stand-up comic in Canada’s equivalent of the Borscht Belt, and the entertainment at various weddings and bachelor parties, Jacobi moved to London to work on the stage, appearing in Guys and Dolls and Pal Joey. 

Jacobi made his Broadway debut in 1955 in The Diary of Anne Frank playing Hans van Daan, the less-than-noble occupant of the Amsterdam attic where the Franks were hiding, and reprised the role in the 1959 film version. 

Other Broadway performances included Paddy Chayefsky’s The Tenth Man (1959), Woody Allen’s Don’t Drink the Water (1966), and Neil Simon’s debut play Come Blow Your Horn (1961), in which he portrayed the playboy protagonist’s disappointed father. His reading of the film line "Aha!" stuck with the Times columnist William Safire so vividly that he cited it when writing about the meaning of the word 36 years later.

We encountered Lou Jacobi only through his records where he uses his expressive voice to maximum effect. His Jewish characters are hilarious in skits in You Don't Have to be Jewish, When You're in Love the Whole World is Jewish, and The Yiddish are Coming, The Yiddish are Coming. All of these records are worth having because the laughs they produce are infectious and just begging to be shared.

We've posted a few of his routines over the years from the first two albums. Here's an audio clip (too bad there's no video)  from The Yiddish are Coming, The Yiddish are Coming. In it Jacobi plays the part of a professor teaching a crash course in Jewish 101 and 102. 

It's rare to find a video of Jacobi as himself, but in October 1982, he appeared as a guest on David Letterman's Late Night Show. In the interview, which you can see below the Jewish 101 skit, Jacobi tells Letterman about his experiences working with Woody Allen.

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)

"The Reading of the Will" and "The Housewarming" - Two Classic Comedy Gems From Our Favorite Album

Of all the comedy albums produced in the era of LP records, our favorite has always been You Don't Have to be Jewish. The album is a collection of blackout bits and extended one-liners which poked fun at the absurdities of American Jewish culture. 

It was recorded in a studio with a live audience in attendance, as a cast of actors performed scripted material much in the manner of a radio play. 

Comedy writers Bob Booker and George Foster had the good judgment to assemble a superb cast for this recording, and they transform what could have been ordinary Catskill shtick into something memorable.

The performers include Lou Jacobi, Jack Gilford, Betty Walker and Arlene Golonka, and their expert timing and feel for their characters is impeccable. You Don't Have To Be Jewish is a fine sampling of classic Borscht Belt humor performed by a top-notch cast.

The two tracks we're sharing today are:
Reading of the Will - Jack Gilford, Arlene Golonka, Lou Jacobi, Jackie Kannon, Betty Walker
Housewarming - Jack Gilford, Arlene Golonka, Betty Walker

Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)