Humor in Yiddish Phrases - "A Groiseh Knocker"

In our search for new faces and new sources of Jewish humor, we came across a series of posts by a ventriloquist who goes by the name of Dr. Allan and has a dummy named Chaim.

Here's a post with Chaim explaining the meaning of the Yiddish phrase "A Groiseh Knocker."

Actually we remember the phrase as "A Gantseh Knocker" but let's accept both in the spirit of variations in Yiddish dialects.

Enjoy!

Meet Jonathan Geffner, the Yiddish Ventriloquist Who Taught Tina Fey

Jonathan Geffner is the world’s foremost Yiddish-speaking ventriloquist and comedian Tina Fey’s personal ventriloquism tutor.

As Leah Falk reported last week on the Jewniverse blog,

Walking through NYC’s Columbus Circle one day, he saw a ventriloquist show and felt, he recalled in an interview, a “lightning bolt of inspiration.” What he meant was: He had found his calling. The Yiddish part was happy circumstance: He was already fluent when he took up the art, and after testing his material on a Workmens’ Circle audience, he found a niche market in the world of Hasidic children’s entertainment. (His sphere of influence has expanded since then — he served as the ventriloquist consultant for Tina Fey’s Admission, in which an unlikely Princeton applicant performs with a dummy named Renee Decartes).

In this video, Geffner entertains in a synagogue filled with Yiddish speaking boys. There are English subtitles in case you don't understand the mamaloshen.

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 Great Jewish Comedians: Paul Winchell and His Dummy, Jerry Mahoney

Paul Winchell (December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, voice actor, humanitarian and inventor whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950–1954, he hosted The Paul Winchell Show, which also used two other titles during its prime time run on NBC, The Speidel Show, and What's My Name?.

Winchell was born Paul Wilchinsky in New York City on December 21, 1922 to Solomon Wilchinsky and Clara Fuchs. His father was a tailor.  His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russian Poland and Austria-Hungary. Winchell's initial ambition was to become a doctor, but the Depression wiped out any chance of his family's ability to afford medical school tuition. At age 13, he contracted polio. While recovering, he happened upon a magazine advertisement offering a ventriloquism kit for ten cents. 

Back at school, he asked his art teacher, Jerod Magon, if he could receive class credit for creating a ventriloquist's dummy. Mr. Magon was agreeable, and Winchell named his creation Jerry Mahoney, by way of thanks. Winchell went back to reading magazines, gathering jokes from them and putting together a comedy routine, which he then took to the Major Bowes Amateur Hour in 1938, winning first prize. A touring offer, playing various theaters with the Major Bowes Review, was part of the prize. Bandleader Ted Weems saw the young Winchell while on tour; he visited Winchell and made him an offer of employment. Winchell accepted and became a professional at age 14.

Let's go back 60 years to 1956 and visit with Paul Winchell and his two dummies, Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead. 

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.)