Come Prepared to Laugh in a Class Celebrating Jewish Stand-Up Comedy Legends

Why have Jewish performers been over-represented in 20^th century stand-up comedy? Come explore the question in “Jewish Stand-up Comedy Legends,” a three-week Exchange class held at the Boulder JCC on Mondays from 1-3 starting October 5.

Stand-up comedy was born on the vaudeville stage but came of age in the Catskills. The Borsht Belt comics, whose material was audience tested in this famed breeding ground, easily transitioned to early television variety shows, then found fame on late night talk shows, night clubs, comedy clubs and eventually televised comedy specials.

In this follow-up to “Jewish Screen Comedy,” which focused on film and television, Kathryn Bernheimer celebrates the Borsht Belt comics as well as the ‘60’s social satirists and the stars of today. The class, which includes a large collection of clips, is both an appreciation of the most brilliant comedy stars and an exploration of how they reflected and shaped the Jewish experience.

The first class will focus on the Catskills and early television. We will study four seminal comics: Henny Youngman (king of the one-liners), Jack Benny (the penny pincher), Buddy Hackett (the “blue” comic), and Milton Berle (Mr. Television).

Our second session will delve into nightclubs and talk shows, focusing on Joan Rivers (“Can we talk?), Rodney Dangerfield (“I don’t get no respect.”), Don Rickles (Mr. Warmth), Jackie Mason (Jews and Gentiles).

The final class covers the new breed of comics that emerged in the ‘60s and later moved comedy in new directions.  Lenny Bruce challenged taboo subjects and skirted with obscenity.  Mort Sahl struck a topical nerve as a social satirist. Andy Kaufman pioneered performance art. Jerry Seinfeld, a cultural icon, took observational comedy to its zenith. Sarah Silverman went for the jugular, forcing audiences to confront uncomfortable realities through laughter.

Join us as we pay tribute to the Jewish funny men and women who take to the stage armed only with a microphone and mad desire to make us laugh.

Register here.

Kathryn Bernheimer is the Founding Director of the Boulder Jewish Film Festival and the retired Cultural Arts Director at the Boulder JCC. A former film critic and the author of two books of film criticism, including “The 50 Funniest Films of All Time,” she has spent her life teaching, presenting, and writing about the arts.