Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Origins of Jewish Comedy Explored on PBS by Professor Jeremy Dauber
In a TV interview on the PBS show Metro Focus, host Jack Ford has a conversation with Jeremy Dauber, Columbia professor and author of the book Jewish Comedy: A Serious History.
The interview touches on an analysis of Jewish humor -- its nature, its development, and its vital role throughout Jewish history. Dauber's book contains plenty of jokes to illustrate the rich tradition of Jewish humor.
Dauber explains how humor has sustained the Jewish people, even through the harshest of times. Jewish comedy is not just an American phenomenon -- it goes all the way back to the Bible.
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.
Labels:
Books,
Interviews,
Jack Ford,
Jeremy Dauber,
Jewish Comedy,
Metro Focus,
PBS,
TV,
Videos
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Buddy Hackett Tells Johnny Carson About His Mother's Chulent
Every Thursday we take a walk down memory lane to find a video clip that made us laugh so many years ago and that continues to be a source of smiles and laughter.
Buddy Hackett is one of our favorites, and from the comments you've made on previous postings, he's one of your favorites, too. He appeared many times on The Johnny Carson show, and we have shared many video clips of those shows on Jewish Humor Central over the past few years.
In this episode on the Johnny Carson show from July 1974, Buddy tells Johnny about his mother's chulent and reads poems from The Naked Mind of Buddy Hackett, a book of poetry that he wrote back in 1974.
In the book, Buddy has something to say about nearly everything. Each of his poems expresses unusual insight and a respect for personal individuality. And each, he says, was inspired by a a specific person or event. He's saved them over the years-on scraps of paper and restaurant napkins-and the whole collection is here in his book, which is now out of print.
Enjoy!
Labels:
Books,
Buddy Hackett,
Chulent,
Johnny Carson,
TBT,
Throwback Thursday,
Videos
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Give and Get the Gift of Laughter for Hanukkah: The Best of the New Books on Jewish Humor
This has been a good year for new books on Jewish humor, so in the few days left before Hanukkah, we thought you'd be interested in some of the best ones, to enjoy for yourselves or to give as gifts. Here are the titles, authors, brief descriptions, and links to their Amazon pages.
Was Elvis Jewish? Plus Hundreds of Amazing and Amusing Anecdotes No Rabbi Ever Told You -
by Paulette Cooper
Was Elvis
Jewish? That’s not all this book will tell you. There’s something for everyone
here, including the religious and the irreverent, the young and the
not-so-young. Most of the information will be unknown to you. It’s been
scattered and often lost in various and hard-to-find newspaper stories,
websites, and books. But now these anecdotes, facts, jokes, lists, and pieces
of history and commentary—both heavy and light—are in one very readable and
riveting volume.
Die Laughing: Killer Jokes for Newly
Old Folks -by William
Novak
From the
co-creator of the celebrated Big Book of Jewish Humor comes a
laugh-out-loud collection of jokes about growing older that makes fun of memory
loss, marriages, medicine, sex, the afterlife, and much more, making this the
perfect gift for almost anyone who was born before you were.
Growing older
can be unsettling and surprising. (How on earth did this happen? Where did
the years go?) So what better way to deal with this new stage of life than to
laugh about your new reality? Die Laughing includes more than enough
jokes (not to mention cartoons!) to let that laughter burst out.
The Whole Spiel: Funny essays about
digital nudniks, seder selfies and chicken soup memories -by
Joyce Eisenberg , Ellen Scolnic, Terry LaBan
If
you call it a mechayeh when you take off your Spanx,
Say,
“Darn, I’ve got bubkes” when your checking account is empty,
And
stock the refrigerator with all their favorites when the kids come home ...
...
then you’ll recognize yourself, your bubbe, and the entire mishpuchah in
"The Whole Spiel," a collection of funny essays that takes a
heartfelt look at modern life as a member of the tribe.
Read
about the great shnecken vs. rugelach battle, the newly discovered Jewish
summer holiday of Simchat Squash, and why yesterday’s nebbish is today’s
millionaire tech nerd.
Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means - by Michael Krasny
Michael
Krasny has been telling Jewish jokes since his bar mitzvah, and it’s been said
that he knows more of them than anyone on the planet. He certainly states his
case in this wise, enlightening, and hilarious book that not only collects the
best of Jewish humor passed down from generation to generation, but explains
the cultural expressions and anxieties behind the laughs.
Oy - The Commentary Magazine Book of
Jewish Jokes Kindle Edition - by
John Podhoretz (Editor)
COMMENTARY
brings you its collection of over sixty Jewish jokes.
What to Name Your Jewish Baby
- by Bill Adler , Mort Drucker , Arnie Kogen
Are you going
to have a Jewish baby, and do you need a name... or just some laughs? Then this
book is for you! New York Times best-selling book creator Bill Adler teams up
with Mad Magazine's killer team of Arnie Kogen and Mort Drucker to deliver not
only over 300 possible names for your little blessing, but also an explanation
of what strange or interesting sort of person you'll get if you give them that
name! Peppered with more than 50 of Drucker's great illustrations, this is
perfect book to use as a gift, or to whomp spiders with.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Children Tell Old Jewish Jokes in Promo Video for Joke Collection
William Novak, the co-creator of the classic Big Book of Jewish Humor, has just written a new book called Die Laughing: Killer Jokes for Newly Old Folks. It's chock full of jokes about growing older that makes fun of memory loss, marriages, medicine, sex, the afterlife, and much more.
They're not explicitly Jewish, but like most jokes told by old Jews, they clearly have a Jewish inflection.
You won't find many new jokes here, as most of them have been retold for generations and make up the majority of jokes circulating in the Old Jews Telling Jokes web posts, book, CD, DVD, and off-Broadway shows. But Novak has aggregated the 290 pages of jokes into nine categories and made them convenient to access and retell.
To promote the book, Simon and Schuster made a video featuring four young joke tellers to read seven of the jokes out loud. We're sharing it with you today. It's a quick way to start your day with seven laughs.
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.)
Labels:
Big Book of Jewish Humor,
Books,
DIe Laughing,
Jewish Humor,
Jewish Jokes,
Videos
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Just Published - "Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places." Get the e-Book Edition Free Now Through Sunday!
Among the more than 1,800 video clips that we've shared with you on Jewish Humor Central, there are about 150 video examples of Jewish life and music that appear in places you wouldn't expect them to. This week we published the collection in a new book, Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places (and Unexpected Traces in Jewish Places). It's available now from Amazon.com in paperback and in a Kindle (e-book) version that you can read on any device with free Kindle reader software from Amazon.
The paperback version sells for $9.95, and when you buy it, Amazon will offer you a free Kindle download. So when you receive the paperback version you can give it as a gift and keep the Kindle version for yourself.
For the next 5 days (Wednesday, January 20 through Sunday, January 24) you can get the Kindle version free of charge directly from Amazon.com by clicking here.
The book presents anecdotes and associated video clips that reveal the myriad ways that Jewish culture, religion, humor, music, song, and dance have found expression in parts of the world that, at first glance, might not seem supportive of Jewish Life.
It includes 50 videos of Hava Nagila being performed from Texas to Thailand, from India to Iran, and from Buenos Aires to British Columbia.
Also highlighted are 34 international versions of Hevenu Shalom Aleichem, Adon Olam, Abanibi, and Tumbalalaika. Whether you’re reading the print version and typing in the video URLs or reading the e-book version and clicking on the links, you’ll have access to 150 video clips totaling more than 10 hours of video.
Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places is also the title of a popular lecture that Al will be presenting in South Florida in February and in the Berkshires in July. If you're interested in information about Al's lectures and Jewish humor programs for your organization, you can reach him at akustan@gmail.com.
Here are the videos shown on the cover. There are 146 more videos that you can link to in the book.
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.)
Adon Olam with Leaping Brazilian Dancers
Sh'ma Yisrael in Papua New Guinea
Chabad Wins World Cup Soccer in South Africa
Are the Japanese the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel?
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
"Jewish Humor" Author Rabbi Joseph Telushkin Analyzes and Tells Five Jewish Jokes
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin is an ethicist and best-selling author of many books including Jewish Literacy, Biblical Literacy, and The Book of Jewish Values. He is also the author of Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say About the Jews.
Rabbi Telushkin has been delivering lectures about the evolution of Jewish humor, explaining how humor in the Jewish culture has shaped the language and other aspects of Jewish life.
Larry Gelbart, author of Mash and Tootsie said that “I don’t know if Jews are really the chosen people, but I think Joseph Telushkin’s book makes a strong argument that we’re the funniest.”
Today we're sharing a video clip from one of Rabbi Telushkin's lectures on Jewish humor, in which he delivers five classic Jewish jokes.
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.)
Labels:
Books,
Jewish Humor,
Joseph Telushkin,
Lectures,
Nostalgia,
Videos
Friday, July 24, 2015
Behind the Scenes at Old Jews Telling Jokes - The Inside Story with Eric Spiegelman - Part 2
Last week we posted the first part of a four part interview of Eric Spiegelman, co-creator with Sam Hoffman of Old Jews Telling Jokes.
The interview was conducted by TV talk show host Connie Martinson.
Old Jews Telling Jokes started out as a website in 2009. Hundreds of jokes later it morphed into a book, a set of CDs and DVDs, and then an off-Broadway show that later toured the USA.
The jokes, told by Jews 65 and older, have been widely reprinted and reposted on the Internet. At Jewish Humor Central, we have used many of the video clips in our Joke to Start the Week on Mondays.
Today we'll share part two with you and give you some insights into the creative process for the series and let you hear some of the jokes, too.
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.)
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Behind the Scenes at Old Jews Telling Jokes - The Inside Story with Eric Spiegelman
Old Jews Telling Jokes started out as a website created by Sam Hoffman and Eric Spiegelman in 2009. Hundreds of jokes later it morphed into a book, a set of CDs and DVDs, and then an off-Broadway show that later toured the USA.
The jokes, told by Jews 65 and older, have been widely reprinted and reposted on the Internet. At Jewish Humor Central, we have used many of the video clips in our Joke to Start the Week on Mondays.
How did this project get started? TV talk show host Connie Martinson interviewed co-creator Eric Spiegelman a few years ago when the book came out. The interview is posted on YouTube in four parts. Today we'll share part one with you and give you some insights into the creative process for the series and let you hear some of the jokes, too.
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.)
Friday, November 15, 2013
Just Published! Our Book of Funniest Israel Videos. Get Kindle Version Free in Amazon Promotion
Over the four years of Jewish Humor Central's presence on the Internet, we've collected and posted more than 1200 jokes, funny happenings, and humorous tastes of Jewish culture. The mix included hundreds of anecdotes with a connection to the land and people of Israel.
We selected the best of the bunch, some 120 blog posts with associated video clips, and published a book about them called Israel is a Funny Country. The book, containing links to more than six hours of Internet video, went on sale this week at Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle (e-book) versions. The price of the paperback version is $8.99 and the Kindle version is $5.99.
As part of the book launch, Amazon is making the Kindle version available free ($0.00) to everyone for this weekend only (Friday November 15 through Monday November 18, 2013. After the promotion is over, the regular prices go back into effect, but with Amazon's new BookMatch program, anyone who buys the paperback version will get the Kindle version free (no time limit on this offer).
This is a great opportunity to get these 120 video gems on your Kindle, iPad, tablet, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry smartphone, PC and Mac, and access them whenever and wherever with the free Kindle Reading App provided by Amazon.
What kinds of anecdotes and blog posts are included? You can look inside the book and see the table of contents on the Amazon page for the book. Here are two examples:
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.)
Mermaid Spotted Off Haifa Coast; $1 Million Reward Offered
Kojak the Camel Gets Tied Up in Jerusalem Bureaucracy
Labels:
Books,
Israel,
Jewish Humor,
Jewish Humor Central,
Videos
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Babushkin's Catalogue: A Fanciful Collection of Jewish Inventions
We've all heard of Jewish inventors. Laszlo Biro invented the Bic ballpoint pen in 1943. Louis Henry Pearlman invented the spare tire in 1906, and Edwin Land invented the Polaroid instant camera in 1947. But these inventions can't compare with the inventions of L. D. Babushkin, whose Babushkin's Catalogue of Jewish Inventions has just been published.
Of course, Babushkin's inventions are more fanciful than real. You can't buy them in retail stores or online. But just imagine how much better off the world would be if everyone could get their hands on them.The book, illustrated by Richard Codor and edited by Lawrence Bush, presents 80 pages of funny don't-you-wish-they-were-real inventions such as wi-fi tzitzit, genetically bred gefilte fish, and extra large grandparents.
The cartoons are self-explanatory and should bring smiles to anyone familiar with a Jewish lifestyle. We included a few examples in this blog post and in the following video. 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.)
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Old Jewish Comedians Gather at Friars Club in New York
In 2006, cartoonist Drew Friedman, son of author and satirist Bruce Jay Friedman, published the first of what would be a series of three books, Old Jewish Comedians. The books are collections of portraits of famous and forgotten Jewish comics of film and TV in their old age, about which Steven Heller, in the New York Times Book Review, wrote: "A festival of drawing virtuosity and fabulous craggy faces... Friedman might very well be the Vermeer of the Borscht Belt."
Last Thursday, some of the old comics and many of their fans got together at a book-warming party at the Friars' Club in New York City to celebrate the publication of Friedman's third and newest volume, Even More Old Jewish Comedians.
Some of the old-timers who showed up were Stewie Stone, Larry Storch, Bobby Ramsen, and Abe Vigoda. When his turn came at the podium, Storch told a few old jokes and recalled some incidents involving Myron Cohen, Buddy Hackett, Jerry Lewis, Mickey Freeman, and Freddie Roman.
Here's a seven minute video showing some highlights of the evening. Enjoy!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Feed Me Bubbe: First, Webcasts and Recipes; Now, the Book!
Last summer we introduced our readers to Bubbe, an 83-year-old grandmother from Massachusetts, who stars in Feed Me Bubbe, a series of 20 web videos, preparing traditional Jewish recipes for a new generation.
This week, a book based on the series, called Feed Me Bubbe: Recipes and Wisdom from America's Favorite Online Grandmother, is making its appearance wherever books are sold, including the online sites Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
Here's an episode from the Feed Me Bubbe series, where Bubbe demonstrates the art of preparing stuffed cabbage. A link to the recipe is posted below the video. Enjoy!
Here's the recipe if you want to print it:
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
PJ Library Offers Free Monthly Jewish Books for Kids 6 Months to 8 Years Old
If you have a child between six months and eight years of age and live in a community served by the PJ Library, the child could receive every month, free of charge, a new age-appropriate children's picture or chapter book that teaches Jewish values, often including a humorous story.
These books are delightful, first-rate stories, some prize-winning classics by famous writers and major publishing houses. If you're familiar with children's books, you may recognize some of the titles that we selected from the complete list of 146 books, including:
The House on the Roof, by David Adler
The Rabbi and the 29 Witches, by Marilyn Hirsh
All-of-a-Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor
Emma's Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty, by Linda Glaser
It Could Always Be Worse, by Margot Zemach
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, by Simms Taback
King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, by Blu Greenberg and Linda Tarry
Shlemiel Crooks, by Anna Olswanger
If you don't live in one of the 135 communities in the USA, Canada, and Israel served by the program, you can purchase a subscription for a child or grandchild for $60 a year, which will deliver one book a month by mail.
Most of the funding for the program is provided by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. The PJ Library is soliciting additional funds from sponsors, especially from communities that are not yet participating in the program.
To us, this looks like an offer no one can refuse. Here's a video describing the program. Enjoy!
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