Comedy Showcase: Classic Courtroom Jokes in Translation from Yiddish by Comedian Emil Cohen

Emil Cohen (1911-2000) was an American comedian, humorist and entertainer. He was billed as "America's Foremost American Jewish Humorist". He frequently performed at the Grossinger Hotel in Liberty, New York, in the so-called "Borscht Belt". Cohen's Yiddish humor was well received by the predominantly Jewish audiences in this area.

Cohen developed a unique style of humor in which he delivered jokes and stories with a punch line in Yiddish followed immediately by an English translation. His smooth delivery ensured that audience members who only understood English could still appreciate the joke in its authentic style. Cohen was known for his double-entendre Yiddish-English humor, particularly his translation of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address into Yiddish. His humor was inspired by the lives of the Jews of Eastern Europe in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Cohen worked to preserve the heritage of Yiddish humor. 

In this courtroom scene, Cohen describes the funny results of a Yiddish to English interpreter translating the answers of an elderly Yiddish speaker to a judge's questions in English about the man's age and why he stole a chicken. The inflection  of the Yiddish answers and English translations are hilarious. 

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.

"Amerike - The Golden Land" - A Must See Musical Off-Broadway Now Through August 20

Last Wednesday we attended the best example of off-Broadway theatre in New York City. The musical play was Amerike - The Golden Land by Moishe Rosenfeld and Zalmen Mlotek, staged  by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene at its new home at the Museum of Jewish Heritage at Manhattan's Battery Park.

Amerike is an expanded version of the play that was originally staged in 1982 and updated in 2012. The acting ensemble has grown from six to twelve, and the new play is entirely in Yiddish with English and Russian supertitles.

As the authors explain in the shows playbill,

We unearthed gems from Yiddish theater and the folklore that brought these experiences to life in a moving musical chronology. We interlaced the songs with dramatic moments that gave the program a theatrical context.

The show includes 41 songs and runs 90 minutes without an intermission. Originally scheduled to run from July 4 through August 6, it has just been extended through August 20. We recommend it highly.

As David Finkle wrote in The Huffington Post,

Before the hour-and-a-half has elapsed, 12 excellent cast members, directed by Brynna Wasserman (with Merete Muenter covering movement), 41 songs by any number of songwriters float by. There’s much pertinent dialogue written by Moishe Rosenfeld and the always-expert music director Zalmen Mlotek.

As the best Manhattan musicals on view these days are listed, Amerike The Golden Land should—and will be—among them.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  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.