When Jews Were Funny

A few years back I saw one of the most startling documentaries I had ever seen. It was called AN EMPIRE OF THEIR OWN- HOW THE JEWS INVENTED Hollywood, and it was based on a bestseller.

It was brilliant. It not only showed how Hollywood was started by Jews, literally, but also showed how, the more successful Hollywood became, the less Jewish everyone wanted to be. The message seemed to be that assimilation and success went hand in hand. The writers even used Superman as an example -- invented by two Jews, Superman actually used a "secret identity" to keep the world from learning that he was "different." Wow.

Zweig's film here is successful entertainment but FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS.

I cannot easily recall another film where the film-maker is such an annoying presence and the viewer so wishes he would just take an extended lunch so we could spend more time with some the greatest comics of the last century, many of whom we have not seen for so long.

(Age is now and always will be scarier than any Hollywood villain. Shelley Berman, for example, sounds like himself and is sharp as a tack, but at 90 he looks nothing like the imposing comic presence he was on the Ed Sullivan show where by sheer force of will he dragged a whole generation into an appreciation of his "phone call" comedy.)

Zwieg meanwhile presents, ironically, the least comic moments in the film as he harasses and annoys these professionals into trying to get them to admit that the world is not as funny as it was because Jews are not as Jewish as they were...

Ignore Zweig and you will actually enjoy this.

I grew up watching these comedians and a lot of others not mentioned including My favorite Woody Allen. I never even thought about them being Jewish, I just liked their humor and the way they told their stories and jokes. I couldn't wait for Ed Sullivan each week or Johnny Carson each night to see who would be on. If the majority of the comedians of those times happened to be Jewish, so be it. I could have cared less as long as they made me laugh. I don't find any of today's so called comedians funny. That's why I love these shows about the real comedians of our past. Keep more of these shows coming and I'll keep watching. FUNNY SMUNNY!!!

I grew up in the northeast, mostly New York, so it is no surprise that Jewish humor is the thing that probably makes me laugh the most. I had never heard of this documentary and it is now twelve years old. What this is mostly about, the diminishing of traditional Jewish humor, is more prevalent now than when this was created. However, somehow, I had not noticed its slow demise until watching this. It's all true. The Jewish humor and intonations are mostly a thing of the past. Sad, but as one person says here, it's all about assimilation. The doc itself was a tad disappointing as I expected more humor. There is some, inevitably, but this is mostly a talkfest with Jewish comedians from the past (who were alive 12 years ago!) and while it is certainly interesting, it was a bit of a letdown. There are a lot of famous faces here, so if this is your thing, you should take a look. There are indeed some moments of hilarity. I was very surprised not to hear a mention of a lot of very famous comedic Jews from the past, but this seems to be concentrating on those who did stand-up mostly in their careers, hence, I guess the absence of such giants as Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and a helluva lot more.

I am around the age of the director Alan Zweig, 60, and I come from a Jewish New York background, so I got exactly what Zweig was saying. We had very funny Jewish relatives and we watched Jewish comics on television almost every night of the week. We grew up at a very special time and only now are beginning to realize how special it was. Many Jews like myself and Zweig stopped observing all religious practices, married non-Jews and only had one or two child. I had about 15 or aunts and uncles and other funny Jewish relatives. My daughter only has three or four and they certainly aren't as funny. About every third comic/comedian on television was Jewish including many of the top ones like Jerry Lewis, Milton Berle and Jack Benny. Today, only about one out of ten are Jewish. For example, I think Vanessa Bayer is only one of the 15 comedians currently on SNL that is Jewish. Compare that to SNL in its first season where Lorraine Newman, Gilda Rahdna, Al Franken were all Jewish and the first three guest hosts George Carlin, Paul Simon and Rob Reiner were all Jewish, not to mention the show's creator Lorne Michaels and half the writing staff.

What I loved about seeing the movie was getting to see some old Jewish comics whom I haven't seen in decades. I was really glad to know that they're still alive and kicking, these include Norm Cosby, Shelley Berman, Jack Carter, David Steinberg ("Boolah, Boolah"), David Brenner, and Bob Einstein (whom I still remember best as Officer Judy on the Smothers Brothers Show). Seeing these and others brought back a flood of memories. It was like seeing childhood friends again.

The second great thing is that they all tell great old Jewish jokes in the movie. I had forgotten these wonderful jokes.

My only criticism of the movie is that I wish there were more clips of deceased Jewish comedians. Alan King, Rodney Dangerfield and Henny Youngman clips are shown, but there were dozens more that I would have loved to have seen, Irwin Corey, Joe E. Lewis, Molly Pecon, Bert Lahr, Red Buttons, Jan Murray, etc.

Still, it was a sweet and funny and beautiful little movie and it made me think about aspects of my life I haven't thought about in many, many years. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Alan Zweig.

If you're coming in to this doc without any previous experience with Alan Zweig, there's a good chance you will be disappointed. Many of the interviewees in this film, in fact, seemed disappointed. In a nutshell, Zweig's style is: Talk with people (not merely "interview" them), be sincere, open and honest in a way that encourages the interviewee to also be open and honest (though it may make some people uncomfortable), and film it. It seems like many reviewers here came to this doc more from an angle of loving Jewish comics without having any experience with Zweig, and I think they have missed the unique value of Zweig's art.

I find it fascinating how he catches people so off-guard with his input, which usually puts people in unexpected situations where they will either put their guard up or open up. Many reviewers here in IMDB also seemed critical of the fact that this was not a traditional documentary format, and that it did not place the focus solely on the interviewees (I also think this threw off some of the more egocentric interviewees). But think about how Zweig actually included so many of those moments, moments that would have been cut in a more traditional doc. (It's funny how many people in Zweig's docs ask "So what is this about?" and how often those moments end up in his films.) I think that's where Zweig's magic is. It might make the viewer uncomfortable at times, but it's raw, it's real, and it's authentic.

7/10 because I probably won't watch it again, but it was successful at the most important thing for me: It made me feel something and it made me think.