Wit Happens: Global Jewish Humor - Paperback

by Jennifer Caplan (Editor), Jarrod Tanny (Editor), Avinoam Patt (Editor)

A collection that proves Jewish humor knows no geographic bounds.

Searching for some well-traveled humor? Look no further than this innovative collection, which investigates Jewish humor in television, film, comedy performance, and literature spanning Canada, the US, Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. This wide-ranging compilation of Jewish "humors"--from the fallout of a Holocaust joke told in Japan, to Mel Brooks's invocation of longstanding Jewish satirization in Blazing Saddles, to reevaluations of Jewish comedic themes from Kafka and Seinfeld--highlights the transnationality of Jewish identity and humor while emphasizing how Jewish culture shifts in unexpected ways across time and place. The contributions illustrate the value of studying Jewish humor that decenters the US and Ashkenazi-centered analysis, broadening considerations of the possibilities within Jewish cultural production through humor as it transforms globally.

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Searching for some well-traveled humor? Look no further than this innovative collection, which investigates Jewish humor in television, film, comedy performance, and literature in global contexts. This wide-ranging compilation of Jewish "humors"--from the fallout of a Holocaust joke told in Japan to reevaluations of Jewish comedic themes from Kafka and Seinfeld--highlights the transnationality of Jewish identity while emphasizing how Jewish culture shifts in unexpected ways across time and place. By decentering both the US and Ashkenazi identity in Jewish humor studies, this collection broadens our understanding of both Jewish cultural production and global humor.