Taking Comedy Seriously
This month, 18Forty is thinking about comedy, and its relevance to contemporary cultural…
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Comedy
Comedy may seem unimportant, or even counterproductive, in a society that values productivity. Religion in particular is often treated with a seriousness that seems antithetical to comedy, as are its texts. But comedy, alongside and within religion, can help us construct meaning from mundane occurrences and even construct further meaning from notable ones.
- Essays
- Essays
What Comedy Means to Me
I take comedy very seriously. Beginning in 2017 and continuing through today, I…
- Essays
Hope, History, and Humor: Jewish Comedy in Perspective
This month, 18Forty is thinking about comedy and its relevance to contemporary cultural…
Comedy
Comedy Intro
David explains how comedy and humor can uncover a mystical oneness that allows us to construct meaning and community from mundane occurrences.
podcast
Gary Gulman: This Impossible Life
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David sits down with Gary…
podcast
Leah Forster: Of Comedy and Community
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David sits down with Leah…
podcast
Daniel Feldman: Punchlines with Boundaries and Opportunities
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David sits down with Rabbi…
podcast
Alex Edelman: Taking Comedy Seriously: Purim
In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David is joined by comedian…
podcast
Modi Rosenfeld: A Serious Conversation About Comedy
In this special Purim episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we bring you…
podcast
David Bashevkin: 5 Things SNL Taught Me About Life (Purim Special)
In this Purim episode of the 18Forty Podcast, David Bashevkin talks about…
book
IT’S GARRY SHANDLING’S BOOK: EDITED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JUDD APATOW
In 2018, Judd Apatow, released a documentary about his comedic mentor Gary Shandling called The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling. It is an exploration of his life through the musings and ideas he left in his diary. Afterwards, Judd published a collection of his diary entries appropriately called, given Garry’s penchant for meta-cognition and self-reference, It’s Garry Shandling’s Book. It’s a doorway into the mind of a comic, a tortured soul of sorts, whose continuous battle to find meaning in his life can perhaps help others find some in theirs.
book
JEWISH COMEDY (A SERIOUS HISTORY)
Part history, part classification system, part philosophy, Dauber tries to cover a lot in his readable, but at times repetitive book. Don’t worry; it’s filled with jokes. It’s a great overview of the different forms of Jewish humor and what they say about the Jewish people.
book
NO JOKE: MAKING JEWISH HUMOR
Each chapter is a general overview of Jewish humor in specific locations: America, Germany, Yiddish humor in general, Jewish humor under Hitler and Stalin, and Jewish Humor in Israel. She builds a few different theories for the relationship between the Jewish people and humor. At times, she seems to be saying that Jews have an eye for incongruity and this is what makes us so funny. Alternatively, she could be saying, humor is a form of release, a way of dispelling the tensions inherent in Jewish life. It’s an interesting book that both overlaps and compliments Dauber’s. Both could have further explored the rich history of rabbinic humor a little more closely, but, in their defense, those jokes can sometimes be a bit too niche. Some jokes, “you have to be there,” others require a deep knowledge of Talmudic commentaries.…