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  • Jewish Comedy: A Serious History by Jeremy Dauber book cover
  • Jewish Comedy: A Serious History by Jeremy Dauber book cover
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Jewish Comedy: A Serious History

by Jeremy Dauber

A history told through comedy

$15.83 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    National Jewish Book Award finalist

    The book is identified as a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award.

  • Critical praise

    Praised by The Economist

    The Economist praises Dauber's survey of the history of Jewish humor.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A history told through comedy

Jeremy Dauber organizes Jewish comedy into seven strands, from satire and wit to vulgarity, and traces its development from biblical times through the age of Twitter. The book connects comic expression with Jewish history, considering how humor has reflected—and at times shaped—historical experience. Its scope ranges across literary, theatrical, and contemporary popular culture, with discussion of figures including Sholem Aleichem, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Joan Rivers, Mel Brooks, Sarah Silverman, and Larry David. The result is a broad cultural history in which comedy serves both as a subject in its own right and as a lens on serious historical questions.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in Jewish cultural history and the history of humor.
  • Readers seeking an overview that spans literature, performance, and contemporary comedy.
  • Readers interested in the work of the writers and performers named in the description.

Themes

Jewish history and humorSatire, wit, and vulgarityComedy across literary and popular cultureHumor as reflection and influence

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

In a major work of scholarship that explores the funny side of some very serious business (and vice versa), Jeremy Dauber examines the origins of Jewish comedy and its development from biblical times to the age of Twitter. Organizing Jewish comedy into "seven strands"--including the satirical, the witty, and the vulgar--he traces the ways Jewish comedy has mirrored, and sometimes even shaped, the course of Jewish history. Dauber also explores the classic works of such masters of Jewish comedy as Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Babel, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Philip Roth, Mel Brooks, Sarah Silverman, Jon Stewart, and Larry David, among many others.

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