Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner Trade Quips as Brooks is Honored by American Film Institute

At the 2012 AFI Conservatory Commencement last year at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, comedian, writer and director Mel Brooks received an Honorary Fine Arts Degree. It was presented to him by his friend and fellow director Carl Reiner.

Brooks says while he was very honored and very happy, he thought he was going to become a doctor. So he went out and bought a stethoscope and was planning to perform a colonoscopy at Cedars-Sinai.

Reiner and Brooks two exchanged quips and hilarious commentary, including an ad libbed revival of the "2,000 Year Old Man" routine created by the two in 1961.

Brooks' acceptance speech is half funny and half serious as he talks about his experience with Brooks Films, directing serious films like The Elephant Man, Fatso, Frances, The Fly, and 84 Charing Cross Road.

He concludes with some advice for comedy writers: "If you don't laugh when you're writing a joke, a scene, if it doesn't make you laugh, don't write it. Don't say to yourself 'This is funny. They'll like it.' If you don't laugh, nobody will laugh."

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.)

 

Old Man River: It's Not What You Say (or Sing), It's How You Say It

Old Man River, one of the most popular songs from Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's Showboat, was sung by Paul Robeson in the 1936 film version. Robeson plays the role of Joe, one of the dockworkers, who acts as an observer of the action on and off the boat and uses the mournful song to comment on race relations.The simple yet profound sound of Old Man River has led it to become one of the most legendary musical theater songs in American history.

Stanley Daniels, the TV screenwriter, producer, and director who won eight Emmy awards for his work on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, was asked to do an audience warmup before the show. It was never aired on the show, but was captured for posterity. 

To get the audience in a laughing mood, Daniels chose the same song but instead of singing it in a mournful tone, recited it using a Yiddish dialect. It's not what you say, but how you say it. Daniels' recitation had the audience in stitches and in just the right mood to laugh during the filming of the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

In the video below, Paul Robeson sings the song from the film, and at the 2 minute mark, Stan Daniels gives his interpretation.  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.)

Standup Comedy From Joel Chasnoff: On Jewish Parenting, Marriage, and Orthodox Jewish Cheerleaders

Joel Chasnoff is one of our favorite standup comics. We started posting his routines in early 2010 and revisited his humor in 2011 and 2012. We posted Joel's funny observations on traveling, playing on a yeshiva basketball team, foreign languages, and Passover.

If you're not familiar with Joel as a standup comic, you may have read his funny book, The 188th Crybaby Brigade, about his adventures as an American in the Israeli army. It's a hilarious coming-of-age tale in which Chasnoff takes readers into the barracks, across international borders, over, under, and through political fences, and face-to-face with the absurd reality of life in the Israeli Army. 

Here's a 12 minute gem - a collection of Joel's funny reflections on Jewish parenting and marriage, Orthodox Jewish cheerleaders, and speaking Dutch and Chinese.

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.)

Subway Klezmer Saxophonist Update: He's Isaiah Richardson, Alumnus of US Marine Band, Juilliard, and Music & Art HS

Two weeks ago we ran a story and video about an unidentified man playing a medley of Jewish songs on saxophone and clarinet in the Times Square subway station. At the time we didn't have any more information about him, but now we know the rest of the story, which we'll share with you.

He's Isaiah Richardson Jr., an alumnus of the Juilliard School, the High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts, and the United States Marine Corps Band. So what's he doing playing Jewish music in the subway?

Zach Pontz interviewed Richardson for the Jewish newspaper The Algemeiner, and got some insight into his background and musical interests. Here is his report:

When I finally caught up with Richardson, over coffee in Brooklyn, I learned that he isn’t your typical street performer. In fact, he’s not really a street performer at all. An accomplished musician with performances at Webster Hall, Carnegie Hall and the 92^nd Street Y under his belt, he currently plays with the band Brown Rice Family, the Colombian Punk Rock band Maku SoundSystem, and is a working musician-for-hire. At the time of our meeting he was shooting a project for HBO.

A multi-instrumentalist who identifies himself as a clarinetist first and foremost (he also plays the saxophone, harmonica, trumpet and piano, among other instruments), he fell into playing in subways by accident, then by necessity.

“I remember the exact date: September 24, 2010. I did a recording earlier in the day and fell asleep on the train and all of my instruments got stolen. My tenor sax—gone. Flute-gone. Clarinet-gone. Harmonica—gone. At that point all I had was a trumpet. So I decided then, and if you’re a musician and that’s what you do and your things are gone—that’s a problem. And I didn’t have any money then, so I decided to play the trumpet on the street,” he relates.

Among the songs in his repertoire were several klezmer and traditional Jewish tunes he had picked up while studying the clarinet, first in a program at Juilliard when he was just 12, then later in high school, college and for the Marine Corps band.

“I just heard all these sounds and every clarinetist wanted to learn how to make those sounds,” he said of growing up around musicians who found their influence in the klezmer music first cultivated by Eastern European Jews, and then spread across the globe.

But his real education came in high school when he got hold of a certain album by a prominent klezmer musician. “I got an Andy Statman album, Hidden Light, and I can’t tell you how many times I listened to that album. Just over and over again, every day.” Other musicians that Richardson is fond of citing include Benny Goodman and Dave Tallas, whom Richardson speaks of in almost hushed tones. “Nobody can touch Dave Tarras. Nobody,” he says.

Last November the New York Times ran a video report on Richardson, who frequently plays on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
 

But he doesn't confine his playing to the museum. Subway stations are also a favorite spot, and we found another clip of him playing the Yiddish song Oyf'n Pripitchik in the West 4th Street station. Here's the video, posted on YouTube by Simon Marcus, followed by the New York Times video.

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.)

Comedy Down Memory Lane: A Classic Bit From Myron Cohen

Some of the funniest Jewish comedians became famous long before YouTube, and even before their standup routines were kinescoped or videotaped for posterity. The only way you could laugh at their shtick was to be in the audience at Grossinger's, the Concord, or any of the many hotels in New York's Catskill Mountains that became known as the Borscht Belt. 

Then came television and the Ed Sullivan Show, which brought the likes of Sam Levenson, Shelly Berman, Buddy Hackett, Mort Sahl, Henny Youngman, and Myron Cohen to the attention of a wider audience.

Cohen (1902-1986) started out as a salesman in the garment industry in New York. When calling on customers, before showing his samples, he would tell a joke to put everyone at ease and establish a friendly mood. Cohen’s jokes were often more popular than his garment samples, and his customers urged him to become a professional comedian.

He entertained in nightclubs in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared frequently on The Ed Sullivan Show. Although he spoke perfect, cultured English, he was a master at capturing the ethnic accents of the Jewish citizens of New York City.

There aren't many video clips of Myron Cohen's routines, but here's one we found from a 1978 performance in Warwick, Rhode Island. If you like the clip, you can rent the 60 minute video from Netflix or buy it at Amazon.com.

Enjoy!

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A Joke to Start the Week: "Write it Down or You'll Forget"

Bernie Liebowitz, a 93-year-old retiree from the carpet business, is our joke teller to get the week off to a funny start. Bernie, a member of the 65 and older cast of the Old Jews Telling Jokes website, gives us an old joke that we've seen in many forms, including a short film that we posted last October.

Here’s the setup for the joke : Molly said to Sam: “Sammy, get me some ice cream, and Sam, please write it down because you're going to forget." And then...

Enjoy, even if you know the punch line!

(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.)

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Jewish Song and Dance in Belarus

Jewish life is returning to Belarus and its capital, Minsk. After the founding of yeshivot in Volozhin and Mir in the nineteenth century, the Jewish population rose to almost a million in the 1900s.

After the Holocaust, only ten percent remained, many of whom moved to Israel. Recent surveys estimate the population now to be around 50,000.

Belarus was home to many notable Jews, including Shimon Peres, Chaim Weitzman, Menachem Begin, Yitzchak Shamir, Eliezer Ben Yehuda, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Irving Berlin, Marc Chagall, Louis B. Mayer, David Sarnoff, and Ayn Rand.

Jewish organizations are taking root in Belarus, such as community centers, youth organizations, kindergartens, newspapers, magazines, and a web site.

A visible sign of a Jewish awakening is the performance of Jewish music in public places. In our ongoing search for new and unusual interpretations of Tumbalalaika, Hava Nagila, and Hevenu Shalom Aleichem around the world, we came across the Radzimichy Folk Ensemble of Belarus. In the video below, they sing and dance to the melodies of all three songs, dressed in their traditional folk costumes.

^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.)